Abyss
by Apples Of Avalon
Summary: Kirby, Champion of the Gamble Galaxy, has disappeared. Old friends and foes must now go through their own paths to find him, but Darkness is rising and the scars of the past can no longer remain hidden...Previously known as What Lies Within the Abyss.
1. Chapter I

**AN: **After weeks of rotting my mind with KSSU, Return to Dreamland, a Little of Mass Attack, Kirby fanfiction, fanart and awesome music remixes AND drawing Kirby crap like there's no tomorrow, I've decided to finally force my lazy ass into writing this. I was planning on making an Epic Mickey one first, but that failed, and now here I am. Enjoy

**Warning: **There might be blood and gore, but nothing mayor so it's alright.

**Disclaimer:** The Kirby series and all of its characters belong to Nintendo and HAL Laboratories….which pretty much leaves me with NOTHING.

It's my first try at Kirby fanfiction, so please bear with me. Also, any suggestions are welcome.

OoOoOoOoO

_What Lurks Within the Abyss_

_A Kirby Fanfiction by Rosalynn Specter_

I

…

_**Honey? Are you OK? Why are you crying?**_

_I-it's nothing…._

_**What happened to your hat? It's all torn up and dirty…**_

_I'm OK. It's nothing, really-_

_**Are the kids at school picking at you again?**_

…_._

_**Sweetheart, you can tell Mommy anything.**_

_They say I'm a freak, Mommy. They say that my eyes are weird and my hat is weird and my laugh is weird. And they grabbed my hat and threw it away and called me names and laughed at me and IT'S JUST. NOT. FAIR!_

_**Honey, calm down! They're wrong, you're not a freak. And I can always make you a new hat…**_

…_Y-you don't think I'm a freak?_

_**Of course not! You're my baby, and I'll love you no matter what happens. That's what mommies are for, right?**_

_...I'm tired, Mommy._

_**Of course you are. You should go upstairs and gO To sLEeP-**_

_M-mommy? What's wrong?_

_**gO to SLeeP, LiTTLe oNe. WOuLdN't thAT be NicE?-**_

_Mommy, you're bleeding! You're scaring me!_

_**GO to SLeEP aNd NEveR WakE Up nEVeR wAKe up NeVEr wAke uP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUP-**_

And the child woke up. And the first thing he felt was terror, nausea and a brain-splitting headache.

And as he tried to calm his nerves and his throbbing skull - that last one failed, as he was shocked to find that he had no hands – he tried to make sense of what he had just dreamed. It was all dark and empty, and he had felt so lonely and sad for no reason. And then that nice voice came and comforted him until the black turned red and the voice started _screaming-_

"About time you woke up, kid".

The child looked behind him, scared by the voice that sounded so close to him. Two red, narrow slits stared back at him in annoyance from behind a silver mask attached to a hot pink blob of a body. The armored puffball tapped its metal-encased feet impatiently as it crossed its gloved arms, "How long do you plan on staring at me like that?"

Tearing his eyes from the golden horns atop the puffball knight's mask – they couldn't be _real, _could they? – the child found himself cowering under the other's intense gaze. The crimson eyes were filled with contempt and suspicion, which only made him more uneasy. Finally, he found the resolve to finally ask, "Who are you?"

The knight - definitely male judging by his voice – kept looking at him warily for a while, then scoffed and let his silvery white cape flow behind him as he adopted a more dignified stance, "I am Sir Galacta Knight, the strongest warrior in the Gamble Galaxy-", and then he abruptly stopped, dropping his stance as his eyes filled with resentment, "Or at least I _was, _until that conceited, pompous, vain little-"

But the child had long stopped listening to him, now focusing on his surroundings. Black and red mixed like paint all around him, and translucent hexagonal panels formed the floor underneath him, showing the endless darkness. Furry grey creatures passed by, their beady black eyes gazing into the distance. The child tried looking farther into the distance, looking for an exit, but the swirls of red and black seemed to extend into infinity.

"-And I swear, when we meet again, I'm going to skin him alive and use his skin as a carpet-"

"Is there any way out of here?" the child turned back to Galacta Knight, who had been ranting to himself. The elder puffball stopped mid-rant and wrapped his cape around him as he shook his head, "I already checked the place, kid. It's the same from miles and miles. If there's an exit, we're too far away from it".

A voice in the back of his head wandered how Galacta Knight could check their surroundings when they were standing on their own little hexagon isle, too far from the rest, right above a possibly endless pit, but he pushed it back into his head as he glared at the pink knight, "Don't call me that. I'm not a little baby; I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"

Galacta chuckled behind his mask, clearly amused by the boy's indignation, "All right then, how should I call you instead?"

The boy opened his mouth as if to answer, but suddenly stopped, eyes widening with grim realization as if he had been slapped in the face. Galacta stopped laughing as the child started hyperventilating, right in the border of panic, "Hey kid, what's wrong-"

"_I can't remember",_ Galacta would've never heard the whisper if not for the heavy silence of solitude that fell around them. The boy raised his paling face to meet Galacta, mismatched red-and-blue eyes meeting glowing crimson, "I can't remember anything. Not my name, or where I come from, or how did I get here…" he started pacing frantically, walking in circles around the knight, the pompons of his multicolored jester hat trailing behind him, "What if I forget _everything!_ First it's my name, next it will be how to walk or how to blink or how to touch my nose with my TONGUE!"

"You don't even _have _a nose", Galacta Knight pushed away the hysterical youngster, turning his attention to the reddish-black expanse around them, "It seems that whatever happened to you before getting here gave you amnesia. But you'll have to deal with that later; right now we should focus on how to get out of here-"

"**Who said anything about leaving?"**

Both knight and jester turned to the source of this new voice, only to meet with blackness. Not the same black-mixed-with-red at the background, but a much deeper, more _terrifying_ blackness. And to their horror, millions of eyes opened amidst the cloud of darkness and focused on their small-by-comparison forms.

"**I'm afraid we can't let you leave", **the dark cloud shifted and gave way to a new form, the white of its skin clashing violently with the black mass around it. It was shaped like a multi-faced polygon, a red eye staring wickedly from each and every side, **"Our master has been **_**dying **_**to meet the two of you".**

"**Can't see why, though",** the blackness shifted again, and what looked like a giant eyeball made entirely of flames hovered next to the polygon, looking and Galacta and the small one next to him with disdainful boredom, **"I don't understand how these…**_**things**_** can help us take over the galaxy"**. A third form came forward, another eyeball shaped like a black star, and floated to the other side of the polygon, its singular red eye resting on the smaller of their two prisoners.

"**I agree with Dark Mind; the knight looks competent enough, but this one?" **the star's crimson eye narrowed in what could only be described as sick glee towards the child's horrified expression, **"I think we should have left his pitiful carcass floating outside Popstar's orbit. That would've been more entertaining, anyways".**

"**Except that Master has made his orders clear"** a fourth figure, its body as black as the shifting mass from where it came from, yet rimmed with thick, orange petals, pushed aside the fiery eyeball – Dark Mind – and glared at the black star, **"He wants both the silver knight and the boy.** _**Alive**_**. And I recall you being there when he said that, Dark Nebula".**

"**I know what he said, Unno! Just because you were the first Dark Matter doesn't give you an excuse to patronize me!"**

The boy watched the monster above in middle of their argument – Dark Nebula and the black eyeball known as Unno were bickering, Dark Mind complaining about his spot being taken, and the unknown white polygon staring at him _and_ at his companions in mild annoyance – and that was when Dark Nebula's words sank into him.

_I should be dead_. _I died and these guys saved me._

The revelation didn't scare him as much as he thought it would. What really bothered him was the nagging curiosity at the back of his mind as to how could he come back from the dead – if he had really died - or why creepy floating eyeballs had bothered to save him when it was obvious they were not fond of him. And who was their "Master", and what did he want with him? Had they met before?

Galacta, on the other hand, was growing impatient. It was obvious that these creatures were enemies, if they were the ones keeping them inside this bizarre dimension against their will. And now they were arguing like children instead of giving out answers, which enraged the knight even further. He stepped in front of his companion, refusing to look away from the polygon's dozens of intimidating eyes, "I've had enough of this. State your business with us or otherwise stay out of our way. Or else I-"

"**Or else**_** what?**_**" **the white Dark Matter – which seemed to be its species – growled with such intimidating force that the other three stopped in middle of their quarrel. It hovered closer to Galacta Knight, who stood his ground unflinching under his stare, **"You're in Dark Star, puffball. And as long as you are in our domain, you're in no position to boss us around, lest you want to suffer an incredibly painful fate".**

"**Miracle Matter is right" **Unno's gaze closed on the young jester, as if he were the one who had started the argument, **"although you do have a second option. Come with us willingly and swear loyalty to the Dark Matter and to our Master. Join us, and no one in the galaxy shall dare defy you!"**

The black Dark Matter's speech was abruptly interrupted by Dark Mind, his flaming iris glowing with amusement, **"Or you could resist and have us rip you apart into little pieces, slowly and painfully" **he was so close to Galacta now that the knight could feel his scorching armor dig through his skin, **"You should choose the second. It's been a while since we had some real fun here!"**

Beside Galacta, the child cowered as Dark Mind and Dark Nebula roared with laughter at the morbid joke, and even Miracle Mind's eyes were filled with amusement. He couldn't join these guys; not when they wanted to tear him apart so badly…

On the other hand…taking over the galaxy suddenly didn't sound so bad.

He couldn't understand why he was thinking like that, but he didn't have the time to do so anyways, as he suddenly felt as if his head had been cracked like a nut in a nutcracker. Galacta Knight noticed his "partner" cringe in pain through the corner of his eyes, and carefully slid his glove underneath his cloak, "I don't know about the kid here, but I appreciate the offer, for it is a tempting one. Except that you didn't count on one thing…"

It was at that very last second that all of Miracle Matter's eyes fell on the knight's right hand.

"I don't work for anyone but _me_".

What followed next happened so quickly, none of the beings present had time to register it. In a second, Dark Star was suddenly lit up with crackling neon-blue light, and a fuchsia colored streak sailed across the air at unbelievable speed…

…And embedded itself right into one of Miracle Matter's eyes.

The Dark Matter creature didn't even have time to scream as blue lightning coursed through his body. The boy couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination as the multi-eyed being was violently electrocuted until he felt something tug at his bowtie. He soon found himself being dragged by Galacta Knight, who was running without missing a beat right towards the still-stunned Dark Matter.

"_Wait!" _he struggled against Galacta's grip, hoping the bowtie would come undone as he tried to run towards the opposite direction. But the silver knight's hold was hard as iron, and he had to keep up with him – whenever he liked it or not - in order to avoid hitting the floor head-first, "It's the other way! If you go there they're gonna kill us and_ HOLYCRAPWHATAREYOUDOING-"_

But Galacta Knight had long stopped listening to him, not reacting in the slightest at the kid's screaming right to his ear amidst his adrenaline rush as they jumped off the hexagon platform, aiming towards the wounded Miracle Matter. With his free hand, he yanked the fuchsia object – which turned out to be a jousting lance – out of the Dark Matter's ruined eye, and trailed safely past him as gravity took over and they began their descent to the gaping darkness below.

The boy had long stopped struggling against the knight's vice grip, now with his eyes closed and hoping fervently that he would die a painless death at least. Maybe he would see his life flash before him; recover his memories right before dying. That would be nice. But he was so immersed in his desperation that he didn't notice they weren't falling anymore until he opened his eyes.

For a second he thought that his wish had been answered. That he had died so quickly he didn't even notice, and that the figure before him was an angel.

A chubby, short and very pink angel.

But once his sight refocused, he realized that he was very much alive, and that the angel was none other than Galacta Knight, his cape flowing behind him. Except that is was not a cape, but a pair of large, feathery wings that beat furiously as they soared across Dark Star at breakneck speed. For a moment, he lost himself to the exhilaration of flight before turning to the older warrior, "You can FLY! Why didn't you do anything before!"

"I didn't think I would be able to take us both this far", Galacta looked over his shoulder at the boy, eyes suddenly widening as he looked past him, "But it seems there's no other choice now!"

The boy looked behind him and paled, looking at the humongous cluster of Dark Matter creatures hot on their trail, closer and closer to them by the minute. Unno, flanked by Dark Mind and Dark Nebula, had long discarded his stoic expression and was barking orders at the frantic lesser Matters as his only eye gleamed with fury, **"GET THEM! DON'T YOU DARE LET THEM GET AWAY!"**

"Hold on tight, kid!" the boy barely heard Galacta's words before the winged warrior suddenly dived, barely dodging the Dark Matter underlings that suddenly charged at them. Sharply turning, dropping and rising, the knight and the jester narrowly avoided every Matter that flung itself towards them, Galacta's lance dealing with those who came too close. But in middle of their struggle, they failed to see Unno closing in on them, or the orange petals that detached themselves from the Dark Matter's black body and soared towards them like blades.

Galacta merely saw a flash of orange through the corners of his eyes before a searing wave of pain struck him from behind, and his companion could only stare in horror as the now bloody wings went limp, dropping them both into the pit below. The Dark Matters saw their prey fall and dived faster than before, intent on catching them before they disappeared into the darkness. Looking one last time above him, the child saw Unno sneering, his red eye mocking him…

"**Fools…we could have done this the easy way. You could have saved yourselves a lot of pain…"**

He looked down at the gaping pit below, the darkness within looking even more terrifying up close. Galacta, who was still holding to his bowtie, was looking dazed due to blood loss, the shimmering red droplets striking against the snow white of his feathers. He looked up again and saw the Dark Matter even closer now, shadowy tendrils reaching out from their misty body to grab at him.

"**But as long as you're alive, our Master won't mind receiving **_**damaged**_** goods".**

The Dark Matter closed in, and the boy was enveloped in darkness alongside the knight.

But then the black became white. And within the white, all the colors of the spectrum shimmered and shifted and flashed across the child's eyes.

He could no longer feel his body. He felt as if he were no more than a wisp of smoke being blown away by a hurricane, spinning around until he felt his head would explode from the pressure and when he tried to scream, no sound came out of his throat. The colors surrounding him merged into light as everything around him spun faster and faster and faster-

And then he landed face-first on the dirt.

He slowly dragged himself off the ground, his body feeling numb and heavy. Completely disoriented, he tried to make sense of his surroundings, dark green and blue swimming across his vision. He turned around and the green and blue became pink and silver, mixing together within his sight-

"Are you going to stand there, or are you going to help me!"

His vision suddenly sharpened, and the pink and silver solidified into the figure of Galacta Knight, standing upside down. As his mind cleared, the boy noticed that, much to his amusement, the knight was stuck due to his horns digging deep into the earth. Carefully, he tugged at his wings with his teeth while ignoring the pink puffball's protests and stumbled backwards once the horns were removed from the ground.

"Thank you…" the older warrior straightened his crooked mask and stretched his wings, not taking his eyes from the young jester, "Now, care to explain how in blazes did you managed to do _that?"_

"Do what?"

"_You_ teleported us here all the way from Dark Star! I've known a few that can manage such trick…" Galacta stepped closer, his torn wings cloaking everything in shadow as his crimson eyes glowered at the jester, "But none could achieve what you, a mere child, just did. And I hope you have an explanation for that".

Confused, the boy looked around and was shocked to see that Galacta Knight was right. Soft, green grass grew under his feet instead of glass hexagons, and the horizon was dyed a deep indigo rather than red and black. He could see the shining lights of towns beyond the meadows, flickering like fireflies amidst the darkness, and he couldn't help the feeling that he had been here before.

"Whooooaaaa…." Sheepishly, he turned to face Galacta, scratching the back of his head, "Look, I don't know how did that, but you could at least-"

_Wait a minute._

He slowly turned to his sides and gasped. Where a normal person would have arms and where he previously had nothing, two golden wings had sprouted. Each had two tiny yet sharp claws and a bright red heart etched into them, their tips molded into the shape of a razor-sharp heart. Hexagon and pentagon-shaped mirrors sparkled in all colors seen and unseen where feathers would usually be found. He managed to catch his reflection into one of them, his childish smile striking through the mirror's lime green hue, "This…is…so AWESOME! I didn't even _think_ I could do this!"

"I didn't know anyone for that matter could do that, kid" Galacta, on the other hand, didn't seem to share his joy for his newfound power as he kept staring at the child's claws, "Now _that_ is a truly rare ability. You have more power than you think, and that is not necessarily a good thing".

"Sure, go ahead; ruin my fun" the small jester childishly blew a raspberry at the knight, who simply rolled his eyes and reached out to have a better look at his wings. Suddenly, these rippled like the surface of a pond, and vanished out of sight in a flash of light. Shocked and angry, the boy turned to glare at him, "HEY! What did you do!"

"I didn't do anything!" the now exasperated knight raised his gaze to the skies, "I don't even know why I-" but he suddenly halted in his words, his eyes adopting a strange glow as he stared at the night sky. The boy looked up to see what had shocked the knight so badly, and was soon at a loss of words himself.

Millions of starts speckled the black canvas of the sky above. Blue, white and orange dots of light spiraled through the sky and comets twisted into intricate patterns across the cosmos. And right in the middle of the celestial maelstrom, the golden crescent moon – he could've sworn it was wearing gloves, but he was too distracted to care – hung proud and mighty.

"Popstar" he heard Galacta Knight whisper beside him. He was gazing at the spectacle before him, red eyes glowing with a mixture of nostalgia and childish admiration, "It's been so long since I was last here, but I would recognize those constellations anywhere in the galaxy…" His eyes suddenly glazed over with an unspeakable sadness, but the child beside him never noticed.

_Popstar?_ The name was oddly familiar, and many feelings suddenly stirred inside of him. Sorrow. Anger. Shame. Bliss. Fear. Longing. All these emotions rushed through his body like wildfire, rocketing like the shooting stars above his head…

And suddenly, it hit him. It shook his whole being to his very core, and it became so clear to him.

"Marx…" he whispered, and saying that one word filled his being with relief, "my name is Marx".

"Nice name, ki-I mean, Marx" Galacta Knight chuckled to himself. He still was worried about the jester's unusual abilities, but he finally settled to leave him be for the time period. After all, he still had some unfinished business to deal with, so this would have to wait. Reverting his wings into a now torn and bloody cape, the hot pink knight started trekking down the hill they were standing in, leaving Marx behind.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Marx scurried behind him and soon blocked his path, "where are we going?"

"_I _have issues to deal with" gently pushing the purple-furred creature aside, the silver armored knight continued on his path without even bothering to look at him, "and I don't know about you, but you're certainly not coming with me. This is where our paths diverge".

"But I-"

"But _nothing._ I don't have time to babysit you. My wings are pretty much useless right now, so the last thing I need are more delays" keeping his constant step, the knight soon left Marx behind, whose mismatched eyes filled with tears of frustration that he furiously wiped away.

"But I don't wanna be alone. I don't know what to do anymore…"

Galacta stopped in his tracks. He had trained himself to disregard emotion when it came in the way of his goals, but even he wasn't completely heartless when it came to matters like these. Still, he merely turned around to face the weeping child one last time before resuming his march, "Life is not easy, kid. And with amnesia like yours, it won't get any better. But sitting there and crying won't help you either. And though I doubt it, we might meet again sometime…"

And before Marx could stop him, Galacta Knight disappeared into the night, his round form devoured by the shadows of the trees.

He stood there for minutes, staring at the spot where Galacta had disappeared. Wiping the last of his tears and taking a deep breath, he set on walking down the opposite direction into the bright lights of the towns beyond.

Doubt flared in his chest for a second, yet he had no option at this moment but to swallow it down, and so he walked forward into the unknown.

OoOoOoOoO

Yeah, the not-so-mysterious character turned out to be Marx. It was hard to write about him without giving away his identity so I gave that up. I want to apologize if I made him OOC, but then again, he just lost his memory. But don't worry; he'll get his memories (and insanity) soon enough.

Also, I decided to name the same Dark Matter from the earlier Kirby games "Unno". I know his/its name is Dark Matter actually, but since this is used more as a collective term than as an individual name now, I had no option but to come up with a fan name of sorts. "Unno" is supposed to be a play on the Spanish word for "one" (although if you own the game you probably already knew that). I chose it because being the first Kirby final boss to appear, I take it he was the first Dark Matter created. Just sayin'…

EDIT: Some people have told me that my story (or at least this chapter) is too similar to Actias Knight's story "Without", even Actias Knight herself. Her story inspired me to write my own, but it was never my intention to make it so similar to her own. To me, stealing other people's idea is a terrible thing, and I feel bad for it even if I didn't mean to. Either way, I wrote this to clarify that I didn't mean to copy Actias Knight. And just so you know, both her stories and art are AMAZING, so you guys should really check out her dA. So, um, in a way, give credit to Actias Knight for this story; she was my inspiration after all.


	2. Chapter II

**Disclaimer: **Get on your knees and look at the floor. See that little, insignificant speck of dirt? I wish I owned THAT much of Kirby, but I don't. End of story.

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II

One could say that King Dedede was bored. But to say that would be an understatement.

The King of Dreamland was currently staring out a window located in the highest tower of Castle Dedede, watching as clouds lazily rolled by while resisting the very tempting idea of slamming his head against the wall. He had already tried everything: Eating to his heart's content, annoy his subjects, break stuff with his hammer, sleep…but now he had nothing to do, and the sheer, pure _boredom_ was driving him near the point of insanity.

He would never admit it out loud, but there was no denying it: Life in Popstar was dull without Kirby around.

Sure, he hated the pink baby puffball. After all, Kirby's heroic actions were an open sign of challenge against his authority as ruler – or at least they were in his eyes, anyways. And darn it, _he_ was the King! He couldn't maintain his reputation if he had pink marshmallows running around Dreamland, doing as they pleased simply because they could. Not to mention that plotting against the young warrior was just too much fun.

But two months had already passed by, and Kirby still wouldn't return from his "vacations" in Ripple Star. After months of endless battling against demonic clowns, paint witches and countless monsters from other planets in every corner of the Gamble Galaxy and beyond, Popstar finally fell into an era of peace, and the puffball took the chance for a little break and to visit his friend Ribbon in Ripple Star. No one had heard of him since, but considering that Popstar was not in the verge of disaster (again!), no one worried for the pink puff and all was well.

…except that without his "arch-nemesis" around, Dedede had nothing to do with himself. What would be the point, anyway? He could now reclaim his authority as king and send the Dreamlanders running in panic like beheaded chickens, but it would be no fun if there was no one to give him a good fight while trying to stop him.

Walking away from the window and plopping down on his throne, the penguin monarch grabbed his Jet Hammer from beside the chair and polished its metallic surface with his sleeve. A few years ago, he wouldn't have been able to move the hammer an inch from the ground with his two hands; now he could easily swing it around as if it were a squeaky hammer with only his right one. After all, his battles with Kirby were not just mindless fighting; they were also, in a way, tests. Tests of strength and stamina, in which he aimed to improve himself and go beyond his own limits in order to defeat Kirby. And with each humiliating defeat for him – which was, well, ALL the time – there was also the chance of starting over and training even more for a chance at victory…

Not that he would ever say that out loud, anyways.

_Stupid ball of fat, _suddenlyannoyed, Dedede dropped his hammer by his side and propped his face on his left hand, _even from thousands of light years away, he ruins everything for me…Whatever, it's not like I need that annoying brat to have fun!_

"Captain Doo!" the Waddle Doo who had been sleeping at the right side of the room suddenly jerked awake at the sound of Dedede's booming bellow, "I'm bored! What does a king has to do to have some fun around here!"

Rubbing his one, very tired eye, Captain Doo used his javelin as support as he rose from the floor, still very exhausted and now annoyed at having his nap interrupted. "Well Your Majesty, you could actually go and take care of your kingdom and other kingly stuff. You know…" he stifled a yawn as he approached the throne's steps, "Just stuff you're supposed to do, since _you're _the king."

"Interesting…" the blue penguin mumbled while wiping his nails on his robe, clearly _not_ interested, "Go on."

Now fully awake, Captain Doo stood straight and spoke carefully, his bravado gone now that he was aware that the wrong words would leave him stuck to the ground like bubblegum with just a swing of a hammer, "Well, uh, you could go outside and…well…interact with your subjects."

"Uh-huh."

"And, um…there's also the issue about the taxes…"

"Uh-huh."

"And you still have to apologize to the people about, well, stealing their food last year…"

"Uh-huh."

"And also-"

"How do you eat with that eye?"

Stunned, Captain Doo turned around to meet his king, who was now a little _too_ close to his face/eye, staring at him in a way that made the Waddle Doo official feel as if a hole was tearing through him, "I-I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me," Dedede's beak was now inches from Doo's immense eye, much to the cyclop's discomfort, "I mean, the Waddle Dees just suck up the food into their faces, and I still can't get my head around _that._ But your eye IS your face!" the king suddenly backed away, arms in the air, "How is that supposed to work!"

Shock turned into irritation, the Waddle Doo captain just stared at the fat monarch. His species had been harassed by that question for years, and it had long stopped being funny at all. However, said question brought an idea to mind, and his eye lit up with mischief. Reaching into the pouch strapped to his belt, he pulled out a slice of bread and waved it for Dedede to see, "Would the Great King like a demonstration, then?"

/

"Your Majesty! Where are you, Great King?"

The Waddle Dee soldier ran as fast as his stubby yellow feet could take him, searching frantically from side to side, room by room. The King's cook, Chef Kawasaki, had last seen him walking up the Main Tower, but several minutes had passed by and he still couldn't find the King. And now he was running up the stairs leading to the tower's last room, his tiny heart threatening to burst as he forced open the door.

"KING DEDEDE! Green Greens is being attacked! It's absolute chaos down there and-Uh, um….." he stopped in his words as he saw his sovereign's expression, which was filled with utter horror and disgust as he kept staring into the distance, "Are you OK, Great King?"

"He'll be fine, soldier; don't worry," The Waddle Dee turned and saw Captain Doo wiping breadcrumbs off his stubby paws and looking pleased with himself, "Just give him…I dunno…five minutes?"

"BUT WE DON'T HAVE FIVE MINUTES!" the frantic Dee stepped closer to Dedede, now tugging at the hem of his red robe, "Sir, Green Greens is under attack! You have to snap out of it! What-"

"NO!" the King's sudden shouting scared the soldier, who let go off his robe and rolled across the floor. Now out of his daze, the blue penguin rose from his throne as stared at the Waddle Dee with a look that could've made a Fire Lion whine like a kitten, "Just…don't…say…anything. Just don't."

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Good…" rubbing his temples, he sat down on his throne again as he shot Captain Doo a dirty look, "We'll talk about this later."

The Waddle Doo just snickered.

"Alright then, what's with all the screaming?" Dedede clasped his hand around the handle of his Jet Hammer and spun it around, albeit shakily, "And it better be good; I'm not in the mood for any more crap today."

"It's Green Greens, your Majesty! Me and my group were on patrol when we were attacked by a Water Galboros!" the Waddle Dee extended its paws for emphasis, "It was _huge_! It came out of nowhere and started trashing about and destroying stuff and people started screaming and running and –"

"A Galboros? But those don't attack unless you interrupt their naps," Waddle Doo snorted and rolled his eye, "Well that's just great. I would love to meet the genius who thought it would be a good idea to wake one of those things." Dedede, on the other hand, was grinning like a fool as he rose and pumped his fist into the air, "Alright! About time something happened around here!"

"Y-your Majesty, this is serious! There are lives at sta-"

"Yeah yeah, people in danger, I got it." He pointed at Captain Doo with his hammer, "Call Bandanna Dee and get ready to leave for Green Greens. And you," he pointed at the Waddle soldier, "go get more Waddle Dees. About twenty will do. All of you meet me outside the castle gate in fifteen minutes."

"YES, SIR!" Both soldiers saluted and stormed out of the room, dashing down the stairs. Once they were gone, Dedede stepped down of his throne and walked towards the wardrobe behind it. Opening the mahogany doors, the reached out his hands and smiled at the object he then pulled out.

It was a thick iron mask. Small, yellow horns protruded from its frame, the surface of its bottom half shaped like sharp teeth. There was a slit at the top half, just wide enough for him to see through. Rubbing the dust off its surface, he put on the mask and strapped it tight. Ignoring the cold of the metal on his skin, he grabbed his hammer with renewed vigor and swung it around the room with deadly speed and strength.

Satisfied, he was about to close the doors and leave when something blue caught his eye. His curiosity getting the best of him, he pushed the doors wide open again, the blue glint intensifying under the light of the chandeliers. Recognizing the object, the penguin carefully plucked it out of the corner of the wardrobe and cradled it in his hands.

It was a crystal, sparkling blue with undertones of indigo and violet. And it wasn't just any crystal; it was a shard from the Power Crystal, given to him and to his friends – even that annoying puffball got one! – by the people of Ripple Star as proof of their valor for defeating the Dark Matter. His face flushed as the memory of Ripple Star's ruler, Queen Lyra, flooded his mind…

"_And now I give to you these Crystal Shards, as proof of your courage and your heroism," Queen Lyra smiled, her dark violet eyes sparkling behind her glasses as Ribbon placed the last Shard around Kirby's neck, "Ripple Star cannot thank you enough for everything you've done…"_

"_Don't thank us, your Majesty," Dedede stepped forward, speaking in a suave tone and puffing out his chest, "for it was our pleasure. No proper gentleman would desert a fair lady like yourself and her people in her time of need." He then kneeled next to her and grabbed her hand, making her blush bright red._

"_Oh, King Dedede!" she exclaimed, her arm raised high in a dramatic pose, her braided black hair swaying behind her, "Your words are kind and gentle, and yet I feel unworthy of them! Ah, my face and my heart burn with shame!"_

"_Don't say that, Queen Lyra, for it is I who should be ashamed! It is I who is unworthy of your incredibly beauty!" he held her closer to him, his arms wrapped around her waist, "But I can't ignore the passion that burns in my heart! I can't simply imagine my life without you, my true love!"_

"_Oh, Dedede!"_

"_Oh, Lyra!"_

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

"AAAAARGH!" Hammer and crystal shard falling from his hold, Dedede snapped out of his memory-turned-fantasy and turned to the newcomer, eyes almost literally aflame, "CAN'T YOU PEOPLE KNOCK FIRST!"

The soldier, this time a Sir Kibble, trembled inside his armor as his king loomed over him, hammer now in hand, "S-sir, Captain B-bandanna Dee and Captain Doo are waiting for you outside the castle…they sent me to check on you since you were taking so long –"

"I'M FINE!" the Sir Kibble barely had time to duck the king's Jet Hammer aimed at his head, "Now get out of here before I turn you into scrap metal!" and in a lower, more threatening voice he added, "And whatever you saw or heard in this room, stays in this room. Got it?"

"Y-yes sir!"

Scowling, the penguin turned around and picked the crystal shard off the floor and stuffed it in his pocket. But when he turned for the door, the same Sir Kibble was still standing there, "What is it now!"

"Um, sir…I don't mean to intrude or anything…" the bronze-armored knight drew circles with his foot as he refused to face his monarch's face, "but is this 'Lyra' your girlfriend?"

/

"Why is his Majesty taking so long?" Captain Doo grumbled to no one in particular while poking the earth with his spear. He, along with twenty or so Waddle Dees, was sitting by the gates of Castle Dedede, waiting for the castle's namesake to finally make his appearance.

"Don't get so worked up, Doo. I'm sure the King is coming to meet us right now..." Captain Bandanna Dee placed his brown paw reassuringly on his friend's shoulder - or where his shoulder would be, anyways. He was barely any different from all the other Waddle Dees, except that he was the slightest bit taller and always wore the bright blue bandanna that had earned him his nickname tightly around his head.

"But he was the one that said to meet here in fifteen minutes, and it's been half an hour!" He stood up and started pacing back and forth, Bandanna trailing behind him, "He was the one eager to go into battle! Who can possibly understand what's going on inside that thick skull of his!"

"If there's no food involved, I don't know what would!" a Waddle Dee at the back of the group shouted, making the others, Doo included, laugh at his remark. The only one not laughing was Bandanna, who kept looking round him as if King Dedede might pop out of thin air at any moment and beat the life out of them.

_**BAM**_

The sound of the castle doors being violently pushed made all Waddle Dees –and Doo – turn around. And much to their horror, a very pissed off, masked King Dedede came out dragging an unconscious Sir Kibble behind him, his armor dented and twisted. Dumping the limp knight in front of the other two Kibbles guarding the gate, he turned around to scowl at Captain Doo through his metal mask.

"So…" he crossed his arms at the one-eyed brown ball, "what was that about me having a thick skull?"

Doo paled and kept staring at the floor, not able to look at his king, "N-nothing, sir. Nothing at all…"

"I thought so." Dedede turned to the Waddle Dees, who were still gawking at him, "And what are _you_ looking at? Get your butts moving!"

Out of their daze, the Waddle Dees rose to their feet and started marching towards Green Greens with Dedede on the lead, Bandanna Dee at his side and helping a still terrified Doo keep up. Such scene made the monarch facepalm right there and then.

This would be a looooooong day.

/

When they arrived at Green Greens, they realized that the Waddle Dee soldier from earlier hadn't been lying. Almost all of the houses forming the small capital of Dreamland town had been destroyed, the muddy earth and dripping debris clear evidence that a Water Galboros had been there. And yet, the monster itself was nowhere to be seen.

"I came all the way here to beat an overweight lizard to a bloody pulp. Now..." Dedede grumbled, his fingers drumming across the hammer's handle, "where is my overweight lizard!"

"Maybe it left, your Highness." Waddle kept glancing by his side, as if expecting the Galboros to burst out of the rubble and gobble him up, "it's not like there's nothing left to destroy anyways. Say, what happened to the townspeople anyways?"

One of the Waddle Dees walked towards Bandanna Dee and whispered something before scurrying off to the back again, "The soldiers say they saw the citizens run off into Whispy Woods when the Galboros attacked. They'll probably be safe as long as they stay within the forest."

"As long as they don't get in the way, fine. But I didn't come all the way here for noth-"

_!_

Dedede turned around so fast he felt as if his neck would snap. Doo and Bandanna stood by his sides with spears raised high, the other Waddle Dees following suit – although some of them thought it would be better to hide behind the rocks. The ruined house in front of them shook, splinters of wood and rock bursting out as a humongous, looming silhouette moved into the light.

Now, a Water Galboros is normally an incredibly fat, limbless lizard the size of a boulder that can spew water jets and generally control water as it wishes. It's covered in light blue scales and spines streaked with orange, and possesses beady red eyes that can make a Rocky tremble like jelly. And yet despite its terrifying appearance, it is an incredibly lazy creature that only attacks when awakened from one of its naps.

But the Water Galboros terrorizing Green Greens was far from the normal Galboros. It was twice its normal size and with black-purple scales instead of blue-orange. Its solid red eyes fell on Dedede and his small army, and dark-colored saliva spewed out through its gritted, razor-sharp teeth.

"Ohhhhh _crap_."

With another mighty roar, the Dark Galboros summoned a wave of murky water underneath its body and propelled itself towards the group. The remaining Waddle Dees quickly stepped out of the way, but Dedede was prepared. Just when the Galboros was close enough to bite off his head, the penguin king hit it right on its nose with all the effort he could muster, sending it crashing back into the debris.

"HECK YEAH!" Happy that he had been the one to deliver the first blow, Dedede temporarily forgot about his battle and did his own little victory dance, "Who's your daddy now, lardball! That's what I'm talking abou –"

But he couldn't finish his gloating before a powerful torrent of water made its way through the rubble and coursed towards him. Taken back by the sudden attack, the masked king has hit directly and sent flying into a semi-collapsed wall.

"Your Majesty, watch out!"

Snapping out of his stupor at the last second, Dedede barely managed to get out of the way before the Galboros crashed into the spot he had been standing on a few seconds ago. Hammer in hand, Dedede charged towards the giant lizard in hopes of landing another hit into its nose, but the Dark Galboros was expecting him this time. With unusual speed for a member of its species, the beast avoided the flaming hammer and reached out with his mouth towards the monarch's arm.

_**CRUNCH**_

The Waddle Dees hiding behind the rocks flinched at the sound of fangs cutting through flesh that echoed all around them. Screaming and cursing, Dedede flailed to release his arm from the Galboros's hold, his now injured arm letting go off his hammer. Quickly, he delivered a punch with his left arm right between the lizard's eyes, making it spit out his arm. Stepping away from the Galboros, the king cringed at the searing pain that shot up his arm, blood spewing out of the bite marks.

Meanwhile, the Dark Galboros recovered quickly from Dedede's punch and launched itself again at the penguin. This time however, Dedede was not able to dodge it and instead tried his best not to scream as the Galboros hit him with full force, the pain from his injured arm only getting worse as he sprawled across the floor. Sight becoming blurry from blood loss, Dedede looked up as the Galboros wobbled closer – was that lardball _smiling_ at him? – red eyes gleaming with sick glee at the sight of its defenseless prey.

_Oh no, there's NO way I'm getting beaten by an overweight tuna fish, _ignoring his agonizing arm as best as he could, Dedede shakily rose to his feet to meet the Galboros's gaze, his left hand clenched in a fist. _At least if I die here and now, I'm taking Chubbs with me!_

But before he could make his move, a silver flash whizzed through the air and hit the Galboros. With an unearthly shriek, the overweight reptile thrashed about, trying in vain to pull out the spear that was embedded right above its right eye.

"Leave the king alone, you fat…slimy…thing!" Bandanna Dee shouted angrily at the Galboros despite his shaking, a dozen or more spears shooting from behind him towards the lizard. Some of them bounced off harmlessly against its thick hide, and others barely stuck to its flesh, but it was enough to divert the now irritated Galboros's attention towards them. Expecting the attack this time, all twenty-or-so Waddle Dees – and Waddle Doo – launched themselves at the beast in an attempt to immobilize it.

Taking advantage of the situation, Dedede limped towards his Jet Hammer, but grimaced at the sparks that shot out of its circuits. Without the hammer working properly, he wouldn't be able to deliver a final blow towards the Galboros, and the distraction wouldn't last for long. There wasn't much time left.

Desperately, he turned towards the Galboros. A few Dees had fallen off and were lying unconscious on the ground, but the majority – Bandanna and Doo included – were still latched on to the Galboros for all it was worth. He noticed the streams of dirty water that dripped down the monster's jaw, and an idea quickly popped in mind.

"Listen, everybody!" Not missing a beat, he grabbed the hammer from the ground with his left arm, "When I say so, let go off the Galboros and take cover!"

"W-what? But you Highness –"

"DO AS I SAY, DAMMIT!"

Though it was hard to see with the Galboros angrily thrashing about, Dedede saw his soldiers nod grimly. Hammer in hand, he walked closer towards the rampaging lizard, "Hey, fatso! Over here!"

Suddenly aware of his previous prey, the Dark Galboros turned around to face the injured king as its mouth twisted into a cruel smile. He opened his jaws and charged another torrent of water as the penguin got closer and closer –

"NOW!"

All Waddle Dees still holding on to the Galboros instantly let go and ran for cover. Confused by the sudden retreat, the Galboros didn't notice the malfunctioning hammer aimed right at his skull until it was too late. As the Jet Hammer's circuits connected with the Dark Galboros's watery skin, streams of electricity shot out from the point of impact and enveloped both fighters. Being the one holding the hammer, Dedede received great part of the damage; but it was the Galboros who received the worst out of the attack, being a creature almost completely made out of water.

Once the blinding light from the electric attack died out, the Waddle Dees stepped out of hiding and gasped at the sight before them. Dedede and the Galboros seemed to be frozen in place and staring at each other, a scent similar to that of burnt tuna filling the air. After several minutes, the Galboros's eyes glazed over as it plopped on one side into the mud, its skin still steaming from the electric discharge.

Barely conscious but victorious, Dedede let his hammer drop and fell to his knees, his left arm cradling his bleeding right arm. Eyes drooping, all he wanted now was to lie down on the ground and rest –

"Great King, look!"

As he struggled with his consciousness, the king looked up and his eyes widened in surprise at the Galboros; a black ethereal mist was coming out of his body and swirling around it like a hurricane, faster and faster. Finally, the mist shot upwards and disappeared, leaving an unconscious, normal-looking Water Galboros with a nasty lump on its forehead. Even after the mist was gone, Dedede kept looking at the Galboros and then back up.

_Dark Matter?_

"I-I believe you dropped this, your H-highness…"

Turning towards the source of the voice, Dedede became face-to-face with a Waddle Dee soldier and gasped at what he was holding in its paws. It was his crystal shard, which seemed to have fallen from his pocket during the battle, but it looked completely different; it shone a deep dark red instead of royal blue, and it seemed to be _vibrating._ The Waddle Dee holding even seem to be in pain from merely holding it.

Taking it from the soldier's grasp, the King of Dreamland understood why the Waddle Dee looked so uncomfortable while holding the shard; instead of calming and soothing him like before, the crystal filled his soul with fear and heart-wrenching sorrow. Unable to hold it in his hand for any longer, he stuffed the shard back into his pocket and sighed with relief as the fear and sadness dissipated from his mind; and yet, the worry still remained.

What happened to the Galboros was not normal. Judging from past experiences, it had been most likely possessed by Dark Matter, which was impossible considering Kirby had destroyed it last time, once and for all. And even if it _was_ the Dark Matter, it felt…different from previous attacks; darker and more terrifying. And with Kirby in Ripple Star, they would all be in great trouble if this spread all over Dreamland.

The King had won the battle, but couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger – bigger than a war – was just beginning. And it worried him to no end, but he couldn't afford to lose it before his subjects. Especially if his fears proved to be right.

"Can we go back to the castle now? My skin is burning and it feels like my arm is going to fall off any second!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Second chapter, this time from Dedede's POV. Yes, Marx is the main character here, but don't forget that other allies and villains are involved as well. Fear not, the next chapter will be Marx-centered.

I loved writing Dedede. I like to picture him as the mean and goofy yet-not-completely-heartless badass he is in the Kirby games instead of the cowardly *sshole he is in the anime. And after reading a few DededexFairyQueen fanfics, I got into shipping them, too. I decided to call the Queen after something related to stars, and thus I named her after the constellation of the lyre.

Sorry if the ending was a little rushed. I was supposed to go to sleep hours ago…

Constructive criticism, please…..No, seriously; I could use a few of those right now.


	3. Chapter III

**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own Kirby. And if I did, I would probably screw it all up. There, I said it.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

III

Several days had passed since Galacta Knight had left Marx to fend for himself, and if anything, the jester felt even more miserable than before.

After hours of walking right after Galacta's departure, he had arrived to the small town he had spotted back on top of the hill. Once he arrived, he tried talking to the townspeople in the hopes that someone knew about him, but the looks they gave him made him reconsider his idea. Some of the inhabitants glared at him with resentment and anger, others with fear and even surprise, and finally those who wouldn't even look at him. And yet none of them dared to talk to him or acknowledge him in any other way, and it was the ignoring part that hurt Marx the most.

_Is this because I don't have arms?_, the purple puff looked at his sides, hoping that those same golden wings from the other night would come back, _if I could just make them appear, they would see that I'm not armless and then they would talk to me and like me…right?_

But no matter how hard he tried, the wings never appeared. And that made the jester even sadder since he had wanted to see how it felt to fly. And he wanted to see those pretty rainbow-colored mirrors again, too. Either way, after leaving the town, he decided not to go through any city, village or place with people in it again.

Those stares had really scared him.

It was a good idea at first; food was not a problem since there was food scattered everywhere he went: apples, ice cream, sandwiches, lollipops…he wasn't sure how that worked, but he didn't complain. And sleep wasn't an issue either; he would simply lie down on the soft grass and watch the stars sparkle at night until sleep came to him. As long as he avoided anyone who came across his way, everything would be fine.

And there was also his memory. Every day, names of places and people from all over Dreamland would flash across his mind randomly: Birdon, Orange Ocean, TAC, Grape Gardens, Scarfy, Mt. Dedede…using his recovered knowledge, he realized he was currently in Cookie Country, and that if he kept going north he would arrive at Yogurt Yard. Finally knowing where he was and where he was heading to relieved him.

But soon enough, the loneliness took hold of him. He was sick of traveling without anyone to talk but himself – which made more than one Bronto Burt stare at him funny – and he was sick of being afraid of going into the villages just because people didn't like him having no arms. Because that was the reason they didn't like him, right?

And now here he was; at the entrance to a town's marketplace somewhere in Yogurt Yard. Every fiber of his body was yelling at him not to go inside, but the laughter of children and the fragrant smell of cooked food that filled the air were too much for him to ignore. Once he entered, he discovered much to his delight that people were too busy buying and running around to even notice him, and soon enough he lost himself too to the colorful displays of the market.

The marketplace was much bigger than he originally thought, and everywhere he looked there were shops selling all kinds of things: jewelry, machine parts, books, tools and utensils of all sorts, weapons…and even more numerous were the food stands. They sold all sort of meals from rice balls to cake, from hamburgers to donuts. There was even a stand that sold octopus casserole – which wasn't very successful considering the casserole seemed to be alive and trying to grab customers with its tentacles.

Marx was gazing hungrily at a Chilly's ice cream stand when a flash of color caught his eye. Right behind the ice cream stand was another one owned by a Poppy Bro, filled to the brim with toys and dolls. But what really caught his attention was the big, striped beach ball hanging from a cord attached to the ceiling. Walking closer to the stand, the purple jester never tore his gaze away from the ball, blue and red eyes shining as a warm feeling started to spread across his tummy.

"_Look at me, Mommy! I did it, I finally did it!"_

"_Oh Marx, it's wonderful! I'm so proud of – Oh my goodness, be careful not to fall off!"_

Marx felt his body freeze and go numb as the voices echoed inside his head. And for a split second, he saw a fleeting image of himself – or rather of a younger version of himself walking on top of a ball, smaller and wearing a dark purple sleeping cap instead of the red and blue jester hat he wore now.

He realized they were the same voices from his nightmare back in Dark Star. The first voice was obviously his own – of his younger self, to be exact. The female voice, or "Mommy's" voice as he called it, was still unknown to him. The voice didn't bring any more memories back to him, no face or name to recognize. But for once it didn't matter, because unlike his previous dream, this one had no screaming or bleeding or shouting or crying.

Only happiness.

"Hey kid, are you OK?"

"Huh?" Marx turned around to face the now concerned Poppy Bro vendor, and that's when he felt the tears rolling down his cheeks. Shaking his head to wipe them, he tried to hide his sadness with the cutest, brightest smile he could muster, "I'm f-fine? Why wouldn't I?"

But the Poppy Bro inched closer to Marx instead, his concern soon replaced by something the jester couldn't identify. "Say, have I seen you before?"

The Bro's words confused Marx, and just as suddenly filled him with hope. Had they really met before? Were there others who knew him in this town? Because if that proved to be true, then maybe they could help him get his memory back! But his joy disappeared when he noticed the Poppy Bro starting to tremble, his face turning a pale, sickly color.

"It's _you_!" the terrified bomber pointed an accusing finger at the purple jester. Now as scared as the Poppy Bro, Marx turned around as if looking for an exit, just as everybody else turned their heads towards the source of the commotion, "But that's – Kirby – We all saw – "

Marx flinched at the word "Kirby", the blurry image of a blue-eyed, pink ball running towards him flashing across his eyes. His whole body shook as he felt his chest burn with an intense emotion he had never felt before, and at the same time he felt he was very familiar with…

"Hey! What's going on?"

"What's with all the shouting?"

"Stars above, is that-?"

"It is! But that's impossible!"

The crowd forming around the toy stand was now staring at Marx, the spectators' faces twisted in fear that soon became anger. They formed a circle around the terrified boy, imprisoning him from within. The jester looked for an opening, but everywhere he looked he was greeted by more hostile glances and scowling faces.

"What is _he _doing here!"

"Didn't Kirby get rid of him for good?"

"He probably heard that Kirby's away in Ripple Star!"

"Yeah, and now he's here to take over Popstar and enslave us all!"

Marx froze.

_Well, I want to control Popstar!_

A wave of nausea hit him like a ton of bricks, almost making him fall to the floor. The voice speaking inside his head was his, but it spoke with such malice and cruelty it horrified him. A hurricane of memories rushed into his brain, but they passed through so quickly that all he could register was a blur of color and noise that made his head hurt. And the angry mob ignored all this as they got closer and closer…

"Kirby or not, there's no way he's getting away with what he did!"

"Yeah, you said it!"

"Get out of our town, you freak!"

"We don't want you around!"

A red blur shot from somewhere in the crowd and hit Marx on his right cheek. Tasting the red goop that dripped from it with his tongue, he realized it was a tomato. Soon, everyone in the market was throwing merchandise at him – and half of it wasn't even food. He tried to dodge all the stuff thrown at him, but a spoonful of mashed potatoes hit him right between his eyes. Now blind, Marx stumbled backwards due to the force of the hit and into the floor, unable to do anything but curl into a ball, bracing himself for the incoming projectiles.

"Stop it…please…" his voice was barely heard over the jeering and shouting of the crowd. Why were they doing this to him? What could he have possibly done to make them hate him like this? Slowly, his terror and sadness morphed into anger, and it was so powerful it made his body shake as if in the verge of tearing apart.

"I SAID STOP!"

Suddenly, he felt warm, like if he had a giant lamp shining down on him. People started screaming, but he couldn't tell what was going on because of the potatoes blinding him. A strange tingle coursed through his body, intensifying by the minute.

"I can't see anything!"

"What the heck did he do!"

"The light! IT BUUUUUUUUUUURNS!"

And instantly, the mashed potatoes were wiped off his face. With his sight still blurry for having closed his eyes for so long, he could barely see figures either kneeling on the ground or running around aimlessly. But then his gaze caught something gold through the corner of his eyes, and his sight sharpened and focused.

_My wings!_

He grinned and wiped the potatoes off his claws, then stretched the golden limbs as much as he could. The light reflected off the rainbow-colored hexagons, filling the market with all the sparkling colors of the spectrum. But then he noticed the angry mob recovering from their temporary blindness, and before he could even realize it, the ground beneath him vanished as his wings took him to the skies.

_I'm flying! _The tiny jester thought to himself, complete immersed in the excitement and joy of his new ability. The wind flowed through his hexagons, rustling them as the sound of wind chimes filled the air. He looked down and saw the mob chasing him underneath him, looking no bigger than ants, and he couldn't help but laugh mockingly at them, "I'd like to see you losers catch me now!"

"You're not getting away with this, punk!" The same Poppy Bro from the toy stand broke through the crowd, a bomb in hand. Marx's satisfaction turned to horror as a Burning Leo rushed beside the Poppy, her flaming hair lighting the fuse. And with one mighty jump, the Poppy Bro fired.

He just barely dodged the bomb by making a sharp turn as it exploded, but his relief was short lived as he felt a searing pain on his right wing. Turning around to check the damage, he gasped at the golden frame cracking, the hexagonal mirrors crumbling into dust. And with a flash of light, the wings shimmered and disappeared, sending the shrieking jester plummeting towards the ground.

_**WHAM**_

Half-expecting to hear the sound of his bones breaking or of his brain turning to mush inside his skull, Marx certainly didn't expect to crash into something soft – it wasn't really that soft, but without doubt softer than the ground he was expecting to hit. Finally daring to open his eyes, the purple puff found to his relief that he had landed on top of some flour sacks stacked into a pile within the marketplace. Still a little shaken from the fall, he tried snuggling into the sacks and just rest for a minute or two or ten-

"There he is!"

Jolted awake by the shout, Marx jumped out of the flour sacks and fell face-first onto the floor. Looking up, he watched in dismay as the angry inhabitants of Yogurt Yard closed on him from every side, the ones at the front charging any power they had at hand.

"There's nowhere left for you to run, brat!" a Plasma Wisp floated in front of the others, wicked green energy crackling across his disembodied, floating gloves. "Now stay still and we _might_ go easy on you!"

"And then we'll take you with Dedede!"

"Yeah! He'll whack you good for what you did!"

The image of an obese blue penguin in red robes flashed through Marx's mind. That alone didn't tell him much about this Dedede, but the smug grin and the massive hammer he held in his hands wasn't exactly reassuring, either. Knowing that there was really no escape for him this time – not without his wings, at least – Marx closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain.

And waited.

And waited.

And it never came.

"Hey! What gives?"

"Did we hit 'im?"

"Holy crap - ARE THOSE BLOCKS?"

_Blocks?_ Confused by such exclamation, Marx opened his eyes and marveled at the barrier that had formed around him. It was entirely made of orange, yellow-edged blocks half his size with a white star emblazoned on each of their faces. He heard voices and loud thumps on the other side of the barrier, but the blocks didn't even budge an inch. _But how – _

"I can't believe you guys! What do you think you're doing!"

The blocks suddenly rose apart from their barrier formation and floated towards the sky. Marx – along with the whole angry mob – watched as they started spinning around as if caught inside a tornado and his eyes focused on the silhouette that was descending right in the middle of the vortex. As the figure came closer, slowly revealing itself, the jester came to the realization that this person, his savior, was nothing else but-

_A giant __onion__! _In times like these, he wished he had arms to rub his eyes with, or at least for pinching himself out of this bizarre dream, _Man, I really should have eaten something earlier…_

Said figure – which turned out to be really an onion, and a female one from the looks of it – landed right in front of Marx, broom in hand, as her big pointed shoes connected with the ground without a sound. Her round face was hidden in the shadow cast by her enormous purple-and-yellow striped hat, but Marx could make out the scowl forming underneath.

"An entire village against one single boy…" he heard her mutter between gritted teeth. Then she abruptly whipped around to face the crowd, which flinched at her sudden reaction. "Seriously, what is _wrong_ with you people? I wanna know who's the freakin' GENIUS who thought this was a good idea!"

"But Grill," a young Birdon stepped forward while still holding on to her mother's wing, using the other one to point at Marx, "he's a bad, bad guy! He did bad stuff and really mean things and hurt people-"

"And I don't _care_." Onion girl – or Grill, as the little Birdon had called her – pointed directly at the crowd with her left gloved hand, the other holding her broomstick high in the air, "You should be ashamed of yourselves! Stomping around like wild animals and throwing stuff at him like that! You could've KILLED him, for heaven's sake!"

A grey-clothed Biospark snorted at her comment while twirling a shuriken around his index finger, "Oh, so now you're defending him, aren't you? It doesn't surprise me, though: Once a villain, always a villain!" The crowd behind the Biospark jeered and shouted back, some of them even starting to throw stuff at Marx again. Said purple jester couldn't get a good look at Grill's face from behind, but judging by the way her cream-colored skin slowly turned pinkish red, she was getting really pissed off.

"Ugh! You're all such JERKS!" Stomping her foot angrily, Grill was now brandishing her broom as if it were a sword, "I've had it with you people! Now get out and leave this guy alone or you'll be in for it!"

"We don't have time to deal with this," the grey Biospark stepped forward and pulled out three other shurikens, the rest of the crowd following in his steps, "_You_ get out of our way and let us deal with him, or we'll have to go rough on you too!". His words sent the crowd on a riot, making them shout and jeer and throw insults at not only Marx, but now at Grill too.

The onion witch stood still for what felt like hours, simply staring at the crowd that was getting closer and closer. For a second, Marx considered making a run for it, hoping that the stranger would hold them back. But the idea was suddenly discarded; she had saved his life, it just wasn't right to dump her when these people were now mad at her for helping him!

Fortunately, Marx still couldn't get a good look at her face, or else he would have probably been scared senseless by the mischievous, almost cruel smile that spread across her face. "So you want to play rough, eh?"

The evil aura of mischief that seemed to flow out from her made the mob stop on their tracks, their faces now filled with doubt and even fear. This made Grill grin even more as she raised her hands towards the skies, "That's cool…if rough is what you want, then I can play that way too!"

And that's when all hell broke loose.

The blocks floating above Grill suddenly came down on the unsuspecting crowd, accompanied by dozens, hundreds, _thousands_ of other blocks that popped out of nowhere. The now terrified townspeople dispersed in hopes of taking cover, but the blocks acted as if they had a mind of their own and followed them wherever they went. Some of the blocks even formed in groups to create figures like hammers and crocodiles that sped behind their victims, slamming and snapping.

Taken back by this sudden offensive, Marx turned to Grill. She was swaying her hands not unlike a director controlling an orchestra, but she abruptly stopped in her movements – oddly enough, the blocks kept tormenting the mob – and turned around to grab Marx's hat with her left hand, the right one holding her broom, "I think now's the best time to escape, don'tcha think?". And before Marx could answer back, he was roughly seated on the broomstick right behind Grill as both children lifted off and sped towards the northeast.

The broomstick soared through the skies like an arrow, the earth below passing by in a blur. Marx was trying really hard not to fall off or to throw up, but Grill's laughter made it clear she was having the time of her life, "WOOOOOO-HOOOOOO! It's been a long time since I've flown like this!" She then turned around to face Marx and smiled warmly at the jester, "That was a pretty close call, wasn't it?"

Marx couldn't bring himself into answering as he got a better look at the girl's face. Her face was pale beige with bright red streaks on her cheeks and an unruly mop of grass-green hair stuck out from underneath her witch hat to partially cover her face. Her eyes were a bright green the color of lime, and they sparkled with such childish mischief yet also with such tenderness that Marx fell his face grow hot with a feeling he hadn't felt before and scared him so deeply-

"Helloooooo? Popstar to big-eyed clown grape? Is somebody home?"

"HEY!" Abruptly cut off from his thoughts – which was sort of a good thing anyways – Marx pulled out his tongue at Grill and pouted, "I'm NOT a grape! Grapes are dumb anyways!" This earned him giggles from the onion witch, but they died quickly as her eyes focused on his right cheek and grimaced, "Ouch! You should really get that checked out…"

Confused, Marx poked his right cheek from the inside with his tongue and flinched at the dull, throbbing pain that followed. The tomato that had hit him there had left a deeper mark than he originally thought. Grill then stretched out her left hand and, while muttering something under her breath that Marx couldn't understand, summoned a perfectly cut ice cube and pressed it against his cheek, ignoring the jester's whimpers. "Try pressing it to your cheek with your foot, OK? We'll go to my place and ask my aunt to take care of it."

"Your aunt?"

"We're not really related, actually," she was now facing forward as the broom started to descend, "but I've been living with her for a while now, so I've grown to know her as my aunt." She bit her lip nervously, although Marx didn't notice, "She's not really accustomed to visits, especially surprise visits, but I'm sure that she'll understand your case. And after she heals you, I can take you home if you want –"

"But I don't have a home." Feeling as if a black hole was growing in his chest, the purple puff tried to distract himself by gazing at the clouds that zoomed across the setting sun in the distance, but the feeling proved to be too great. "I-I'm not really sure how it happened, but I lost my memory and I don't know where to go…it's complicated."

"…_Oh."_

The rest of the trip took place in awkward silence, with neither child sure of what to say after that. After the sun sank into the horizon and night crept in, Marx saw lights appear before them, and soon enough the silhouette of a mansion came into view through the darkness. It stood tall and proud, sharp towers reaching into the night sky like needles.

"We're here!" Descending right in front of the mansion's doors, Grill hopped off her broomstick with Marx in tow. Still feeling a little woozy from their trip, the jester sat on the floor to keep his head from spinning as Grill opened the massive doors with her magic, "Alright then, this is what we'll do: You wait here while I go fetch my aunt, and when she says it's OK for you to come in –"

"GRILL!"

Marx had no time to register what happened next. One second Grill had been speaking to him, and the next she was facing the floor with three smaller, tan-colored onions clinging to her back.

"You're back!"

"We were _sooooooo_ worried for you!"

"Hey look! She brought a visitor!"

The three talking onions turned their attention to the light purple jester, who felt intimidated by the sudden attention. Forgetting completely about Grill, all three onions jumped off her back and floated – yes, _floated _– right into Marx's face.

"Who're you?"

"Where are you from?"

"Are you and Grill together?"

"Toget-NO!" Marx's purple fur turned into a deep, wine red from the embarrassment, "It's not like – I mean – I'VE JUST MET HER!"

"Guys, stop it! You're scaring him!" Peeling herself off the floor, Grill grabbed the floating onions by their tiny arms and legs. Had Marx not been so distracted by his own embarrassment, he would've noticed that Grill's face was just as red as his. "That's not something kids like you should know about anyways!" Turning to her friend, she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about my siblings. But now that you've seen each other, you might as well introduce yourselves, right? I just remembered I don't even know your name!"

"O-oh, right! My name's Marx….I think."

"Okay then. My name's Grill, but I think you knew that already." The tiny onions took the chance to sit in Grill's big striped hat, which made her roll her eyes, "and these annoying twerps are –"

"I'm Sugar!"

"I'm Salt!"

"My name's Pepper!"

"Uh…hi?"

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I might as well go look for my aunt." The young witch headed for the door, but was blocked by her three onion siblings, who were all shaking their heads. "Hey! What gives?"

"Auntie's painting in the basement again!"

"She said she doesn't want ANYONE to bother her!"

"I think she might stay there for a week or two…"

This obviously annoyed Grill, who let out an exasperated sigh, "_Another_ of her random surges of inspiration? It's the third time this month!" She turned to Marx, who was confused by the whole dilemma and smiled apologetically, "Our aunt really loves to paint, and she often leaves for the basement when she's inspired so that no one distracts her. She can stay there for days or even weeks without coming out even once until she's finished…" She then summoned another ice cube since the first one was long gone and pressed it against Marx's cheek carefully, "I was hoping she would help me with your injuries, but it seems I'll have to go hit the healing spellbooks again."

"That means you have to make dinner too, sis!"

"Let's eat curry tonight!"

"Nooooo, let's have hot dogs instead!"

Sugar, Salt and Pepper hovered into the castle, still bickering about which dinner would be better. Grill walked right behind them, but turned around to look at the jester who was still standing at the entrance, unsure of what to do, "Well? You're not gonna stand there all night, will ya?"

"But…" Marx turned to the floor, suddenly interested in staring at his shoes, "your aunt 's at the basement…and you said she doesn't like surprise visitors-"

"It's OK, Marx," the jester almost jumped as he felt Grill's hand patting him on the head, "This is not what I had in mind, but we'll have to wait until she comes out. And I'm sure she'll understand, but for now you'll have to stay with us." Her soft expression became sterner as he put her hands on her hips, "Because there is NO way I'm letting you go with those bruises! What kind of friend would I be if I did that?"

_Friend?_ Grill really considered herself as his friend? To Marx, the word sounded really weird inside his head, but it also filled with an unexplainable happiness that spread from head to toe. He skipped behind Grill and into the castle, her younger siblings flying and laughing above their heads as they chased each other.

And for the first time since arriving at Popstar, Marx smiled.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**AN: **Dammit, every chapter is longer than the last one…that's not right.

I also want to apologize for the delay. For some reason, I only get the will to write these chapters when I'm at school. I could've finished this earlier at home, but I simply didn't want to….meh.

Also, GRILL. Because I've seen her in one and ONLY one fanfic, and she didn't even get a happy ending But I guess that's what you get for being a secret boss in this one Kirby game that couldn't get out of Japan…I imagine her as sort of cocky and a prank-lover, considering she's a villain. And I'm not really sure why but I see her onion henchmen as her younger siblings (Sugar is a girl and Salt and Pepper are boys).

Get ALL the cyber cookies by guessing who Grill's mystery foster aunt is! But send me a PM if you really want to know if you're right; if you are, I don't want spoilers leaking out or something…


	4. Chapter IV

**A/N: **First of all, I'm incredibly sorry for the delay. School has been a real bitch these last weeks….and I've been lazy too. Also, Kirby's Dreamland 3, Mass Attack and Return to Dreamland have turned out to be incredibly distracting.

ANYWAYS, here's the 4th chapter of Within the Abyss. We go back to Dedede as more characters are introduced and the plot of the story begins to reveal itself…(I just realized I might have already revealed it in the summary. Crap.)

I do NOT own Kirby. Nintendo and HAL Lab do…lucky bastards.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

IV

The warm light of the afternoon sun bathed all of Dreamland, a sign of yet another beautiful day for its inhabitants. The sunshine bounded off the thick brick walls of Castle Dedede, making the fortress look more imposing and terrifying, yet in a strange way, also more regal and majestic.

Yes, everything was fine in Dreamland indeed.

"HEY! Watch it! I need that arm, you know! How the heck am I supposed to kick ass if I can't use my hammer- YEEEEEOWCH!"

…Well, _almost_ fine, actually.

"That's it; I can't take the pain anymore!" King Dedede, who was now sitting on the throne of the castle's Main Hall, cried out a little too dramatically as an elderly Birdon took care of his previously injured right arm, "You'll have to chop off my arm; won't you, Doctor? Ohhhh, everyone in Dreamland will think I'm a freak! How could they possibly follow a one-armed king?" But suddenly his anguish was replaced with anger as quickly as it came, "Well, SCREW THEM! I'm still the king, and if they don't like it, then I won't go easy on their little-"

"Your Majesty," the Birdon doctor spoke in a calm collected voice, only his grey eyes behind his spectacles betraying the annoyance he felt for the penguin, "I enjoy your so-very-entertaining ramblings as much as the next person…But I haven't even touched your arm yet."

"….I knew that!"

"I'm sure you did," the Birdon doctor merely shook his head in disapproval. He had treated Dedede in the past, and he had seen the king endure worse injuries than these without complaining so much. Then again, the king relished attention; and right now, after being manipulated countless number of times by otherworldly beings and defeated by Kirby, he would probably do anything to bring his subjects closer to him and salvage what was left of his reputation. Anything except actually being a good king, it seemed; "Your arm is already healed anyways, all I'm doing now is removing the stitches from the wound. That's no reason to whine like a little child…"

"Watch your mouth, old man!" Dedede jerked his arm away from the doctor's hold, wincing slightly at the jolts of pain from moving his injured arm so harshly, "I'm not paying you to complain, am I?"

"…You don't pay me, Your Majesty. At all."

"So you see my point!"

The Birdon doctor sighed and turned his attention back towards the king's wounds, carefully undoing the stitches that helped them heal. Meanwhile, Dedede closed his eyes to distract himself from the painful tugging in his right arm, and his thoughts diverted back into the event's from almost a week ago.

Ever since the Galboros attack in Green Greens, no other regions had been attacked, thankfully. But he still couldn't shake the feeling that something way more terrifying than a rowdy fat lizard was yet to come. And to make things even worse, it was probably all work of the Dark Matter.

And his Crystal Shard was still red and giving off bad vibes, which certainly didn't make things any better.

At this point, Dedede couldn't help but feel furious towards his nemesis. Three times had the Dark Matter taken over Popstar and even the entire galaxy (not to mention that they possessed him all three times, and saying that such events were incredibly disturbing would be an understatement), and three times had Kirby defeated them, and _still_ that wasn't apparently good enough considering they were probably back for a fourth time. Couldn't that cursed pink ball do his job right?

But as much as he loathed the young hero, there was no other way around it: He would need his help in order to vanquish the Dark Matter. And this time, he would personally make sure those creepy black eyeballs never returned to his kingdom ever again. On the brighter side, having his "vacations" in Ripple Star cut off early would certainly upset Kirby, and this thought was enough to bring a smile to Dedede's face.

"Whatcha smilin' about?"

The voice that suddenly spoke in front of him was definitely not the doctor's, who was the only one with him in the Main Hall as far as he knew. All thoughts of Kirby and Dark Matter forgotten, Dedede opened his eyes…

…and was met with a pair of big aquamarine eyes merely inches away from his face.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

The force of Dedede's scream and sudden jump was enough to throw both his doctor and the intruder off the throne. Meanwhile, the king himself reached out for his hammer, and was ready to deliver a skull-breaking blow into whatever had surprised him. But before he could do such thing, his eyes focused one last time at the intruder and finally registered who it was.

"_Adeleine!"_

"Well yeah; hello to you too, Dee Dee." The owner of said aquamarine eyes, a black-haired human girl, stood up from the floor and wiped off the dust from her green shirt and grey skirt after being thrown off so unceremoniously by the penguin's reaction, "You know, for our first reunion after so many years, this is certainly not what I expected-"

"What the _hell, _Adeleine!"Dedede's initial shock was replaced with anger as he went on full tantrum mode, "Who told you to sneak on me like that! Heck, who said you could get into my castle_ without my permission!" _He hesitated for a second as if realizing something, and his face turned as red as a Maxim Tomato, "And for the last time, MY NAME ISN'T DEE DEE! THAT'S A GIRL'S NAME! _IT'S KING FREAKIN' DEDEDE TO YOU!"_

"But doesn't it bother you that everyone treats you so formally all the time?"

"OF COURSE NOT!"

Ignoring the king's flaring indignation, Adeleine began to twirl a paintbrush between her fingers, "Well, it bothers _me_. After all, friends shouldn't be so formal with each other, right?" She twirled the brush one last time before putting it away and turned back to pout at Dedede, "Bandanna let me in to pay you a visit. And here I thought you would be happy about it!"

But before the King of Dreamland could answer to that, said Waddle Dee barged into the Main Hall, his bright blue bandanna partially covering his vision as he waved his brown paws around frantically, "Adeleine! You can't run off like that, the King doesn't like it-" Finally getting a grip on himself, Bandanna adjusted his namesake just in time to see his monarch glaring down at him. "Oh dear."

"YOU!" The poor Waddle Dee had to cover his ears from the penguin's verbal onslaught, "_YOU_ LET HER IN? JUST WHO THE HECK TOLD YOU TO DO THAT! SHE SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH AND I WAS THIS CLOSE TO CLOBBERING HER!"

"Well, Your Majesty-"

"AND YOU KNOW WHAT! MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE DONE JUST THAT, BECAUSE APPARENTLY, THAT'S THE ONLY WAY OF GETTING SOME DARN RESPECT AROUND HERE!"

"_Hey!"_

"Great King, please don't shout!" Bandanna sank to his knees – or what could be considered knees in a Waddle Dee – and bowed down to his king, unsure of what else to do in order to avoid his wrath, "Please forgive me for disobeying you!" He rose to look at his king just barely, lest he take it as a sign of defiance, "I just thought you would be pleased to see Adeleine again! You never want to go into Whispy Woods to visit her, after all-"

"And that's because last time I did, I almost got a concussion from all the apples Whispy threw at my head," More annoyed than angry now, Dedede rubbed his temples and sat back on his throne. The Birdon doctor, who had witnessed the bizarre reunion without moving from his spot beside the throne, immediately set back to tending to the king's stitches, "but that's not the point! The point is that you should have told me before! You know I hate surprises, and you just can't let _anyone_ get into the castle as you please! The last thing I want is for some other weirdo from another dimension to possess me…" The king's expression turned sour at the thought, "…_Again."_

"A-are you saying," The Waddle Dee wailed, his eyes going unbelievably large with sadness, "that y-you don't trust Adeleine? After e-everything we went through?"

"That's not what I said!"

"Then why are you so upset that she came to visit us?"

"BECAUSE SHE ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!"

"Excuse me!" Both king and servant stopped their argument to face Adeleine, her arms crossed and her expression disapproving, "As much as I like this little reunion, I don't have time for it." Her expression became more business-like as she stepped between Bandanna Dee and Dedede to keep them from arguing again, "I didn't come here all the way from Whispy Woods for a casual visit only. I came here for something important-"

"If it's paint what you want, I don't have any."

"I DON'T WANT ANY PAINT, OK!" Both Dedede and Bandanna Dee were shocked at Adeleine's reaction, her happy-go-lucky demeanor replaced by frustration and…fear? Taking a few deep breaths to keep her emotions under control and turned to face her friends, the worry in her eyes being now more evident, "Ribbon called me the other day-"

"Ribbon?" Bandanna scooted closer to Adeleine, his eyes shining at the fond memory of their pink-haired fairy friend, "She's here?"

"No, she's still in Ripple Star. But she contacted me yesterday through this." She pulled something red and shiny from her pocket, and Dedede's stomach did a flip thinking it was a corrupted Crystal Shard; Adeleine and Bandanna Dee had their own Shards as well, after all. But as the young painter polished it with her sleeve, he noticed this crystal was smoother and more rounded, colored a bright rosy red. "Ribbon gave this to me during the victory party at Ripple Star back then, saying we could use it to keep in contact even from all the way at Popstar. She originally wanted Kirby to have it…" Adeleine smiled at the memory came to mind, "but after he tried to eat it a dozen times thinking it was hard candy, she decided to leave it to me."

"Wait a minute," Dedede, now with his arm completely healed and stitch-free, dismissed his doctor and walked closer to Adeleine, "How come _you _got that crystal and not me! _I'm _the king around here, darn it!" He turned his back to her and huffed, acting offended.

"Because everyone, even Ribbon, knows you hate to be social." Adeleine sighed at the king's childish behavior and returned her gaze at the crystal's pinkish surface, "The crystal uses a lot of energy so I can't call her that frequently, but we would still talk at least once a week if only to check on each other. Sometimes Kirby would stop by to visit me when I called her and we would all tell jokes and talk and…" But the young artist didn't finish her sentence, her sad gaze never leaving the crystal in her hands.

"Addie?" Bandanna tugged at her sleeve tenderly, his hazel eyes beginning to fill with tears at the sight of his friend in such distress, "what did Ribbon tell you? What's wrong in Ripple Star?" For a minute she didn't answer and kept gazing at the crystal, and he thought she hadn't heard him. He was about to repeat the question when Adeleine took her beret off and ran her right hand through her black, slightly longer hair.

"She didn't really tell me anything." She looked into Bandanna's eyes and then at Dedede's, taking in both males' reactions, "She called me yesterday and told me to come here as quickly as I could and talk to you guys. She said that all three of us had to hear it." In that moment, her eyes clouded over with worry, "You didn't see her, guys. She looked _awful, _which means that whatever she has to tell us can't possibly be good…"

"But what could've happened at Ripple Star?" Bandanna whimpered while fiddling with his brown paws, "Isn't Kirb-"

But he couldn't finish speaking when Adeleine's rosy crystal started glowing strongly, filling the Main Hall with its soft glow. It rose from its place in Adeleine's hands and floated in the air, glowing even more brightly and forcing the three Dreamlanders to look away lest they go blind. When the light died out and it was once again safe to look, all three of them turned to see not a crystal, but a soft pink portal floating in midair. And on the other side, bloodshot dark blue eyes looked back at them from a tired pale face framed with unruly pink hair.

"RIBBON!"

Upon recognizing the three figures before her, the Ripple Star fairy's face brightened as she smiled seemingly for the first time in days, "Oh thank goodness you're all here! Adeleine, I can't thank you enough-"

"Ribbon, you look absolutely _awful!_" the young artist didn't let her finish, horror in her face as she took in her friend's state, "You look even _worse _than before! What the heck's going on over there!"

"You're scaring me, Ribbon!" Bandanna was crying, big sloppy tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared at the distressed fairy with watery brown eyes, "I've never seen you like this before! Please tell us what's wrong!"

Dedede said nothing, his expression unreadable as he merely stared at Ribbon. Said pink fairy's fleeting smile faltered and sadness crept back into her eyes. She didn't – she _couldn't_ – bring herself to say anything for what felt like ages, the deathly silence that fell over them only being interrupted by Bandanna's soft whimpers.

Adeleine was the first one to break the silence. She tried to keep her voice stern, but the growing fear in it couldn't be ignored, "Ribbon-"

"Kirby's _gone, _Adeleine."

The silence that followed her revelation was crushing compared to before and the three Dreamlanders present found themselves unable to breathe as Ribbon's words sank into their brains. Adeleine was about to speak when Ribbon interrupted her, "He's been gone for over a week, and I haven't been able to sleep since then. Everyone said that he would be fine, that he was probably in another adventure but that he would come back because that's what he always does…" Her eyes widened as her expression became more horrified and her voice more frantic, "But the Power Crystal has been corrupted and there's Dark Matter everywhere AND KIRBY HASN'T RETURNED YET AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITHOUT HIM-"

"Ribbon, calm down!" Adeleine's shout interrupted the young fairy mid-rant, "Dark Matter? In Ripple Star again? But that's just not possible, we destroyed it-"

"Except that now they're back." Everyone turned to see Dedede speaking for the first time, a rarely seen somber expression etched on his face, "They possessed a Galboros a few days ago and forced it to attack Green Greens. I had to stop it-"

"I was there too," Bandanna Dee's voice was shaky yet quiet as he wiped the remnants of his tears, "but I…I never thought…I didn't _want _to believe-"

"Did your Crystal Shard started glowing red and made you feel sad all of a sudden?" Dedede nodded, and Adeleine's expression soured, "So did mine, right before Ribbon called me. It's happening all over again-"

"Except that Kirby has gone missing," The sheer and utter despair in Ribbon's voice sent chills down everyone's spines, "which means the Dark Matter have already won. Kirby was the only one who could stop them, b-but now…Oh, I told him not to go-"

"That's not true! We gotta get to going to Ripple Star; there's no way we're leaving you to deal with those creeps alone!"

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me," Ribbon sighed and brushed away strands of her pink hair away from her tired eyes, "so I guess there's no option but to show you…"

"Show us what? How do you plan to do th-" But before Dedede could finish his complaint, his voice suddenly failed him. And then his sight, then his hearing, and slowly he felt all feeling leave his body until he felt as if trapped inside a never-ending void. Terror began to settle inside his mind at the idea that the Dark Matter had attacked them by surprise by interfering Ribbon's call, and the mere thought of losing for real, of surrendering to the Matter's power like Ribbon had said before made him want to scream even though he didn't have the voice to do so.

And then, just as quickly as the void appeared, it was soon replaced by a brilliant flash of light that threatened to leave him blind. With the return of his sight also came back all his other senses and the general presence of his body, and after he recovered from the temporary blindness caused by the light and the wave of nausea that overcame him, Dedede finally found the strength to open his eyes.

"Oh, goodness! Are you OK?"

The overweight king blinked at the sight of Ribbon's blue eyes so close to his face. An uncomfortable silence arose as fairy and penguin looked at each other, Ribbon's gaze becoming more and more worried while Dedede's became more and more confused. After several minutes, Dedede closed his eyes and pinched his arm, and his expression became even more confused when he opened them again and saw that Ribbon was still present before him. Just to make sure, he looked around him and realized they were in one of the many halls of Ripple Castle, "What the _hell-_"

"At least you didn't suffer any permanent psychological damage," Ribbon sighed in relief as she turned to Adeleine and Bandanna Dee, which were waking up from their stupor and looking as confused as Dedede, "I'm really sorry; this is the first time I tried something like this. I could've called someone else but-"

"What exactly _did_ you do, Ribbon?" Adeleine asked as she rubbed her temple, "Ugh, my head…"

"I tapped into the communication crystal and used the power within to 'teleport' your minds here into Ripple Star and project them into a more concrete shape…" All three Dreamlanders looked at themselves, discovering that their 'bodies' looked almost static and transparent, "You are seeing Ripple Star right as it is in this very moment, but you can't interact with any of the things or interfere with any of the events you witness here. Others can see you, but they can't interact with you either."

"So we're like holograms or ghosts or something like that?" Bandanna tried poking a nearby vase with his paw, only to see it sink through it. Surprised yet excited, he turned to 'smile' at Ribbon, "This is awesome! I didn't know you could do stuff like this!"

The young fairy smiled again, but the gesture still looked haunting in her tear-stained face, "Thank you. I've been practicing for a while now; Her Majesty has taken the liberty to teach me-"

"LYRA!" Dedede's abrupt shout made everyone in the room turn their sights towards him. Realizing his mistake, the penguin king turned beet red and diverted his gaze across the room, "I-I mean, is the Queen alright? Is she here?"

"Queen Lyra has been in Grand Library searching for old documents and scripts ever since…" Ribbon's eyes began to tear up, but she hastily wiped them away, "…since disaster struck Ripple Star. Without Kirby, many fairies here in Ripple Star succumbed to panic. The Queen, however, believed that she could find a way to fix all this, with or without Kirby, by searching through ancient tomes. Ripple Star's Grand Library specializes in books about magic and mystical items-"

"Ribbon, you said there was Dark Matter everywhere..." Adeleine walked closer to the fairy, her arms crossed, "And yet we haven't come across a single one." The young painter, though sympathetic for her friend's emotional condition, remained skeptical towards her, "In that case, shouldn't you be possessed along with everyone else here in Ripple Star?"

Adeleine's words struck home: Ribbon bit her lip and struggled not to cry, not daring to look into Adeleine's eyes. She turned around and headed for the doors located on the other side of the hall, the Dreamlanders following her hesitantly. It took a while for her to open the great mahogany doors, but with the help of her friends, the doors finally burst open and led them into the castle's courtyard.

What they saw outside was enough to turn their blood into ice.

Ripple Star's sky was black. Not the bluish black of a moonless night sky; it was the tar-like black of a deep, endless void empty of all form of life. Not a single star, cloud or comet was visible amidst the darkness that surrounded the heart-shaped planet. And it was such emptiness that filled Dedede's, Adeleine's and Bandanna Dee's hearts with a terror they had never felt before.

"The sky…everything's gone…Ribbon, how-" Adeleine turned to her fairy friend, but Ribbon wasn't listening. She was stretching her now cupped hands in front of her, muttering under her breath as light began to gather between them. Before long, she was holding a small yet bright sphere of light. She stepped further into the courtyard and lifted the sphere as high as she could, bathing everything around her in white light.

The three Popstarians behind her waited in silence, not sure of what to expect next. It was Bandanna's terrified gasp that finally broke the silence, and after looking towards the direction his paw was pointing at, Adeleine and Dedede had to fight the urge to scream, too.

Blotches of white and orange appeared amidst the darkness that surrounded Ripple Star as result of exposure to the light. It was too far for a normal person to make out what they where, but the three of them had seen this before and easily recognized the sight before them.

They were eyes.

Blinking tiredly as if disturbed from a long deep sleep, the eyes' orange irises followed the source of their discomfort – Ribbon, to be precise. They narrowed at the young fairy at what was probably hatred and annoyance, but the pink-haired girl stood her ground, returning the gesture defiantly as she kept the sphere suspended in the air.

Dedede's grip tightened around his hammer. Adeleine whipped out her paintbrush. Bandanna brandished his spear, which proved more difficult to do with trembling hands. All three of them took battling stances, prepared to protect Ribbon if those eyes decided to attack her, or to attack if their fairy friend was determined to retaliate. But much to their surprise, Ribbon put out the light sphere with a motion of her hands, still staring at the eyes above her. These remained motionless, looking at Ribbon and her friends behind her with unfathomable expressions. Finally, after what felt like forever, the eyes began to close as they sank into sleep once more.

Dedede hadn't realized he had held his breath back all this time until the eyes in the sky vanished and the cold, heavy feeling of fear left his chest for a moment. But it soon returned as quickly as it left as the grim realization hit him like a hundred Moundos, and he couldn't prevent his voice from shaking as he turned to Adeleine and Bandanna Dee, "Dark Matter…so it's true".

Ribbon nodded but didn't look back at him, "After Kirby disappeared and the Power Crystal became corrupted with negative energy, they appeared out of nowhere and surrounded all of Ripple Star. They…they haven't attacked us or done anything at all for that matter…" She turned to face them, fresh tears running down her cheeks but her eyes burning with frustration and defiance, "all they've done is keep us prisoners within our own home! They won't let us out or let anyone in, all while Kirby is probably out there risking his life fighting them-"

"You mean that all that darkness in the sky is actually _Dark Matter_?" At this point, Bandanna couldn't look any paler or more terrified, "But there must be _millions_ of them! Maybe billions!"

"But that….I don't understand…" Adeleine had broken into a cold sweat, her knuckles white from gripping her paintbrush, "We destroyed Dark Star – Kirby destroyed them all! How could so many of them survive!" She turned to Ribbon with terrified eyes, "HOW!"

"I don't know, Adeleine," Ribbon could not force herself to look into the artist's horrified expression and turned her gaze back into the void surrounding her planet, "All of Ripple Star has undergone an emergency lockdown. The Queen is doing everything in her power to find a solution to all this, but without Kirby or even the Power Crystal, there's nothing we can do-"

"B-but _we _can do something!" Adeleine exclaimed, "Once our minds return to Dreamland, I can paint us a ship! A-and maybe distract the Dark Matter so you can escape-" But she stopped midsentence upon seeing Ribbon shaking her head, "Ribbon, you can't expect us to stand aside and do _nothing-"_

"And you can't expect _me _to just stay here and see how you guys get killed by the Dark Matter!" Ribbon snapped back, but soon her anger was replaced with exhaustion, "I already lost a dear friend; I can't bear the thought of losing you guys, too."

"We don't want to lose you either, Ribbon," Bandanna Dee whispered and stepped forward to hug her. However, he forgot his "body" was merely a hologram manifestation of his mind, and yelped in surprise as he passed through Ribbon. Upon realizing his mistake, his brown eyes glistened with tears but he forced them back.

Dedede's face remained expressionless and said nothing.

"_Y…r Ma…sty…..in….Ded…."_

All four of them jumped at the sound of the voice that echoed around the courtyard, distorted and distant as if it were coming out of an old radio. Dedede was the first one to come back to his senses, hammer in hand, "Who said that? I swear, if you're Dark Matter, I'm going to beat the stuffing out of you, you piece of-"

"_Wak….up, Yo….jest…..lease, snap out of it!"_

"That's Waddle Doo's voice!" Bandanna Dee cried out.

"They must have found your unconscious bodies back at Castle Dedede; they're breaking the communication crystal's spell." Ribbon turned to the group with a sad smile, "I hoped we would be together longer than this…but spells like this one take up a lot of my magic, so I'm afraid we won't see each other anytime soon."

"But we can't leave you like this!" Adeleine reached out for Ribbon, but her hand, now blurred and barely visible, went through her just like Bandanna. "We can't leave you guys trapped here with the Dark Matter! We wanna help you!"

"In that case, you have to find Kirby." Ribbon's determined voice now matched her expression as she looked at her disappearing friends, "He might still be out there, and he probably doesn't even know what's going on here in Ripple Star! Like you said, I can't do anything, but you guys can!" She hesitated for a second, and when she looked at them again, there was more pleading than determination in her eyes, "You _must_ find him. Please promise me you will."

At this point, Adeleine's, Dedede's and Bandanna Dee's forms were much too blurry to the point they were barely visible, but Ribbon managed to hear Adeleine's distorted one last time. And those words were more than enough.

"We promise."

And with that, they were gone.

/

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

"ARGH!" Dedede awoke screaming, back in Castle Dedede's Main Hall and inside his own body. For a fleeting moment he believed – he _hoped – _that his ethereal experience in Ripple Star had been just a nightmare, but he couldn't think much about before he was tackled by an orange puffball.

"Nova above, could you please NOT SCARE ME LIKE THAT!" Said puffball turned out to be Captain Doo, who was at the moment too busy venting his frustration on the king's stomach with his paws (not that it hurt, anyways). Behind him a whole troop of Waddle Dees were looking at the king, a mixture of worry and relief for their monarch evident in their cream-colored faces. Some of them were helping Adeleine and Bandanna get on their feet beside him.

"I come into the hall and the first thing I see is you body lying still on the floor, what the heck was I supposed to think!" Dedede's attention turned back to Captain Doo, who was now pointing an accusatory stub at him, "I thought you had died! WE ALL THOUGHT YOU HAD DIED!" He paused for a second, his whole body a reddish tone from all the angry screaming, and turned away while crossing his arms and huffed, "If you had dumped your kingdom like that, I would have never forgiven you."

In another time, Dedede would have shouted back at Doo for his insubordination, and would've probably smacked him away with his hammer, too. But upon realizing that his meeting with Ribbon had been real enough, he couldn't find the strength to snap back at his underling. The memory of millions upon millions of Dark Matter looking down at him from the sky sent shivers down his spine.

But it was also at that very moment that he realized what he had to do.

"I need to go to the hangar," he told Captain Doo, who in turn stopped ranting as he listened to his king's orders, "I want you to call Gyrem and his group; I need their help with _it._ And I don't want anyone interrupting me, got it?"

The one-eyed official blinked, too taken aback to comprehend what the penguin was saying. But once the words sank into his mind, he nodded in understanding and ran off after saluting him, the Waddle Dee troop following from behind. Adeleine, on the other hand, was not as compliant; "Wait a minute, what on Popstar are you talking about? We promised Ribbon-"

"-That we would look for Kirby?" Dedede scoffed, much to Adeleine and Bandanna's displeasure, "Yeah sure, on what ship?"

"I can paint us one!"

"Using _what_ paint? And how long would that take you to make, anyways?"

Adeleine's face turned bright red, but that didn't prevent her from lashing back at Dedede, "It's still better than nothing! What do you have to do that's more important than saving Kirby? Stuff your beak with food?"

Dedede's face contorted into a snarl, and even fearless Adeleine flinched at the sight of it. But he didn't do anything as he turned around towards the Main Hall's back exit, "Stay here or go back home; I couldn't care less. But if you really want to go save Gumball Boy, you better come back in…" He halted in his steps, "Three days…yeah, that's enough."

"Three days?" Adeleine asked confused, and couldn't help but stare back suspiciously at the older penguin, "Dedede, just what the heck are you planning now?"

All she got from him was a wry smile, "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." But the smile soon left his face as he headed again towards the exit, getting lost in his thoughts soon enough and leaving Adeleine and Bandanna Dee on their own.

Neither of them could speak for a long time. The events taking place in Ripple Star, along with Kirby's disappearance and now Dedede's mysterious departure was too much to take in; it all just seemed too chaotic to be true. It was Bandanna who broke the silence at last.

"Addie…" the human girl turned to the brown puffball. He wasn't crying anymore, but the absolute despair in his eyes was far more worse, "All that Dark Matter…and Kirby's not here to stop them. I-I want to do something, but I can't-" he buried his face into his paws, "Addie, I'm scared."

Adeleine wanted to walk to him and hug him. She wanted to reassure her friend that everything was OK, that they would find Kirby and kick the Dark Matter's butt. That this was just another adventure and that there would be a happy ending just like every time before this.

But how could he convince him of that when she couldn't even convince herself?

"Me too, buddy….me too."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

….Well f*ck, I said I would try to make this chapters shorter, and I did exactly the opposite. Joy.

Sorry for the long wait guys. Chapters might take more time from now on, but I definitely want to finish this story so don't worry about it getting cancelled or something.


	5. Chapter V

Have you guys noticed that the character tags in the Kirby page are severely lacking characters? No Zero/02 , Drawcia, Dark Matter, Yin-Yarn, Necrodeus, Grill, Dark Mind or Dark Nebula, among others…instead, they have the names of anime-only characters that I bet have never been used and will never be. Screw logic.

Whatever, back to the story.

Kirby and all related characters are property of Masahiro Sakurai, Nintendo and HAL Laboratories.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

V

_The first thing Marx became aware of was the smell of cookies. Its buttery, mouth-watering aroma wafted around the kitchen as he walked in. The second thing he became aware of was the female Simirror in front of him who was busy taking out the first batch of cookies out of the oven and replacing it with a second one. The third thing he became aware of was that this Simirror was his mother._

_Her robes were colored sky blue with undertones of dark blue and long enough to cover her feet completely, almost like a ball gown. Long curls of soft, lavender hair streamed down her back from underneath her navy blue pointed hat, and the gem of her Mirror Wand gleamed from its spot in her belt. After closing the oven's door, she turned around to face him and although she was initially surprised to see him there, the violet eyes underneath her hat soon filled with such warmth he couldn't help but smile back._

"_Good morning, sweetheart." The Simirror walked closer to him, and Marx knew she was smiling at him even if he couldn't see it from behind the neck of her robes, "I hope I didn't wake you up; you still look really tired…" The smile vanished – or so he assumed – as her eyes filled with concern._

"_I couldn't sleep last night, Mommy."_

_Surprised, Marx turned to the kitchen's door just in time to see another purple puffball behind him. He was younger and smaller, about three years old, and his red-and-blue eyes were almost obscured by the oversized, purple sleeping cap that was almost twice as long as his body. Marx couldn't do anything but stare in shock at the tiny newcomer as he tried to take in the fact that he was looking at himself._

_The younger version of Marx, on the other hand, yawned and completely ignored the older version and instead looked at his – _their_ – mother. "I had a bad dream last night, Mommy. It was _terrifying_!" His eyes filled with tears as he gave the Simirror a look so heartbreaking and adorable it actually made the older Marx feel a little nauseated, "I was trying to get on my ball but then it grew red eyes and big teeth and started to chase me around and then IT ATE ME!" In his fear, the little purple puff ran to its mother – and _through_ Marx, much to his shock – and buried his face into her blue robes._

"_Oh honey," His mother picked him up tenderly and kept him tucked in between her arms, "It was just a nightmare; they're never real and can't ever hurt you." She wiped a tear from his ruby red eye and slipped a hand underneath his hat to stroke his head comfortingly, causing the younger Marx to purr and snuggle closer to his mother. Meanwhile, the older Marx kept watching them, his early confusion fading into something more akin to sadness as he took in his past self's happiness._

_At that moment, he would've given_ anything_to actually be the one tucked into her arms. _

_Purple puffball in arms, the Simirror walked back towards the oven – the jester shuddered as they passed through him again – and lowered little Marx onto the floor as she took the second batch of cookies out, "I guess it's a good thing I know just the thing that can keep the nightmares away, don't I?_

"_COOKIES!" Marx cringed at his younger self's shout, watching him jump up and down around the kitchen and babbling as if he had drunk a bucketload of coffee, "Do they have chocolate chips? Or sprinkles? Or peanuts? Or raisins – except that I don't like them. Can I have one, Mom? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaseeee? ?"_

"_You can have one after breakfast, young man." Her mother answered in a faux stern voice, but she couldn't help but smile as her son begged at her with his huge, teary eyes, "And you can have more for dessert after lunch. But not too many, unless you want to go to the dentist earlier again!" _

_Younger Marx made a face at the idea of going to the dentist, and then both of them laughed and turned their attention back to the cookies. He jumped next to her mother, trying to see how she cut dough into a third batch while she hummed softly under her breath. And Older Marx – the actual one – simply stood behind them, lost within his own thoughts and feelings at the memory replaying in front of him. He felt like an intruder trapped inside someone else's memories._

I miss you, _he wanted to scream, but his voice got stuck at the back of his throat._ _His heart felt heavy, filled with a mixture of both frustration and homesickness, _I can't even remember who you are, but I want to. I really do.

_Had he not been distracted with his own misery, Marx would've noticed how time stopped around him and the color leaked out of the room. Or how his tiny, past self cracked and crumbled to dust without a sound. _

_Or how darkness flooded out from behind his mother's robes, pooling around her._

"_**You were such a sweet child, weren't you?"**_

_Marx was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of the female Simirror's voice. She was facing him, her now grey and tattered robes staining with the foul, dark liquid that flowed from the space between her hat and her scarf where her eyes were before. Her voice was filled with a sorrow that chilled Marx to the bone, __**"You were always so happy and innocent, and there wasn't one single day in which you wouldn't wear your favorite hat or try to ride your ball around the house. You were the best son a mother could ask for."**_

Not this again.

_Drops of sweat were beginning to make their way down Marx's back. This wasn't the first time this had happened, yet that didn't stop him from going nuts with fear on the inside. But he decided to at least keep calm on the outside and let his mother – or whatever it was that looked like her – talk._

"_**And then you became bad." **__She laughed hysterically, but the laughter sounded more like sobbing, __**"Like a filthy, rotten apple. You caused so much wrong, and you left your poor mother behind to cry her heart out. I was so miserable and you didn't even care."**_

"_Shut up," Marx rasped._

"_**Was I not good enough for you, Marx? What did I do to deserve this? **_

"_Shut. Up."_

"_**Why do you enjoy making Mommy so sad? What happened to my baby-"**_

"_I SAID SHUT UP!"_

_The Simirror let out an ear-splitting shriek and whipped out her Mirror Wand, hitting its gem against the wall and crushing it on impact. Marx cringed as a flying shard zoomed past his face and cut the skin, letting fresh drops of blood roll down his cheek. However, he refused to cry out as he backed into the corner, his mother looming over him with her ruined wand in hand and laughing insanely._

"_**IT's tOo lATE FoR yoU," **__she whispered, __**"YOu cAN't bE sAvED ANymOre; AnD Now i'm GoIng TO enJoY mAKiNG yOu ScREam…" **__Her body moved limply, as if she were no better than a broken puppet. She laid a hand against Marx's right cheek, her glove staining with his blood, __**"WOulDn'T tHAt be So. MuCH. FUN?"**_

"_Just leave me alone! I'm not scared of you!" the jester spat back, shoving the Simirror's hand away. She stumbled back, but regained her footage and let out a hideous cackle that made his heart beat almost painfully against his ribs._

"_**IS thAt sO?" **_

_A loud, sickening crack echoed around the room, and Marx watched in horror as his "mother" fell to the floor as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut off. The darkness pooling around her body like blood rose from the floor, shifting and spiraling until it began to mold itself into a distorted, winged silhouette. Pale, maddened eyes opened amidst the blackness and smiled at Marx with sharp fangs._

"_**HOw aBOuT Now?"**_

/

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Marx woke up thrashing and rolling on his bed like crazy until he fell out of his bed. For minutes he laid still on the floor, trying to ease his beating heart and convince himself that his nightmare was just that: a nightmare.

If only it were that easy.

This was the third – or maybe fourth? – time he had a nightmare like this. Ever since Grill had taken him a little more than a week ago – his "injuries" had long healed, but she insisted on him staying a while longer since he had nowhere to go -, he had gotten dreams like these almost every day. Some were just memories of his mother, or of his younger self, and even both at the same time. Those were his favorite.

But some of those dreams, although innocent at first, warped halfway through it and became horrible nightmares. One second his mother was being nice and the next she was screaming like a banshee and with her hands around his neck…or where his neck would be, anyways. It was like if something – or some_one_ – possessed her just for the sole purpose of terrifying him.

But this was the first time he had actually seen that something or someone. And he had never felt so scared in his life.

A ripping sound woke him out of his daze, and much to his dismay he saw the sharp, heart-shaped tip of his golden wings tearing through the mess of bed sheet he had fallen in. A positive side effect of these nightmares was that it somehow triggered his wings, and with every nightmare his own hold over the appendages became stronger, enabling him at this point to summon them almost whenever he wanted. However, not a night passed in which he had a nightmare without him breaking something now, "Darn it."

"Another bad dream?"

Marx turned his head towards the door, where Grill was now standing with her arms crossed. She was now wearing a lilac and pink sleeping cap and fluffy slippers instead of her usual striped witch hat and pointed boots. Her tuft of green hair was a mess and her eyes looked tired, but her smile was sympathetic. She jumped at the sight of Marx's wings, but soon paid them no mind, "You know, they're actually very pretty when you get used to them."

"That's not what you thought the first time," the jester smiled mischievously, inwardly relieved that he was no longer alone. "Seriously Grill; you almost passed out from all the screaming! I still don't get how your brothers didn't wake up."

The onion witch pouted as she sat on the edge of Marx's bed, "Oh shut up; I was worried about you! I come into your room and the first thing I see is you screaming like a madman with those wings coming out of your sides. What was I supposed to think?" She grabbed one of the stray pillows and held it close to her, "I thought for a second that you were _mutating_ into some monster or that there was some parasite coming out of you, like in those sci-fi/horror movies…"

"Geez, what type of messed-up movies do you watch, anyways?" Marx joked, only to get a pillow to the face and a raspberry from Grill. Both children laughed as they chased each other around the room for a while, before falling onto the bed and looking at the ceiling. Silence followed their laughter, and after a while Grill was the first one to break it: "You're not going to tell me this time either, are you?"

The purple puff sighed; Grill had come to see him for the past week every time he woke up screaming from a nightmare. He was convinced that, after seeing his wings for the first time, she wouldn't dare come close to him during the night…or at all; and yet, she had come every time to check on him and calm him down, and he couldn't thank her enough for that.

But no matter how many times she asked, he couldn't bring himself to tell her about his dreams; not even the good ones. "You don't want to hear about them, honestly." He turned to her gave her a fake smile that he hoped would look real enough, "It's actually all pretty stupid anyways, so don't worry about me."

Grill's frown wiped the smile clean off his face, but she kept looking at the ceiling instead, "Fine then, don't tell me if you don't want to…" To his surprise, her expression softened, "I guess it must be very personal if you don't want to tell. It's not like we've known each other for long, anyways."

Marx bit his lip, but said nothing. Neither of them moved as minutes ticked by, their gazes stuck once more to the ceiling. The young jester would once in a while turn his gaze quickly towards Grill, but gave up soon enough once he realized she wasn't going to return the gesture. She couldn't be mad at him for not telling, was she? In his opinion, it was a very stupid thing to be mad about, but he didn't want her to be mad at him nonetheless. The silence lingered on, and Marx was desperately hoping that Grill would at least leave; anything that would cut the awkwardness between them.

"Hey, Marx."

Instantly relieved, Marx faced her and found her grinning at him, "Yeah?" This only made the witch's smile grow bigger.

"Race you to the kitchen for some ice cream? Winner gets first pick."

Now it was Marx's time to smile, "You're _on_."

/

"C'mon Marx, don't be like that; I won fair and square!"

"But I want chooooooocoooooolaaaaateeeeee….." the purple puffball whined while eyeing the ice cream tub Grill held in her arms hungrily, "Chocolate's the best! It's sweet and creamy and delicious and sweet and you can't eat it all by yourself!" He shot Grill and accusatory look, which she was very happy to return.

"There's only enough for one person, and it's mine! Why can't you have vanilla instead?"

"Nuh-uh! Vanilla is for losers!"

"So you see my point!"

"Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiill," Marx's voice rose to a pitch that made the onion girl's head hurt, "Let me have choooooocooooooolaaaaate…Please?"

"But I-"

"-"

"ALRIGHT FINE!" Grill covered her mouth, realizing how loudly she had shouted out. After a minute of silence, she was relieved to see she hadn't woken up her brothers and turned to glare at Marx, "We'll split vanilla and chocolate between us both. Is that enough for you, you big brat?"

His smug expression only made her even more annoyed. "Yup! And don't forget to add spriiiiinkleeees~!" He sang out as he danced around Grill, his laughter slowly getting on her nerves, and she almost let the ice cream bowls fall to the floor when he suddenly appeared right next to her and screamed into her ear, "SPRINKLES!"

_WHACK!_

"No sprinkles for you, loser," Grill growled while twirling her broom on her right hand, her foot on top of Marx who was currently face-down on the floor, a bump beginning to swell on his head. Snarling, he managed to get Grill off of him, giving her a deadly glare and pulling out his tongue. His expression, rather than annoying her, made her laugh as her anger faded.

Darn him for being so funny when she should be mad at him.

"Just shut up and eat your ice cream," she said as she slid one of the bowls towards him. His own anger completely forgotten, Marx squealed in glee as he dunked his head into the bowl and gobbled up the delicious cold treat. Grill chuckled to herself at the sight as she ate her own serving, "It's gonna be hilarious when you get a brain freeze."

Marx, still with his mouth full, made a face at her instead. However, his expression suddenly grew more serious as he seemed to sink into thought while staring at his feet. After a moment, he turned to face Grill, his words merely a whisper yet sounding crystal clear through the emptiness of the room, "Thanks a lot, Grill."

"Huh? For what?"

"What do you mean 'for what'? I was being chased by an angry mob with food and you came out of nowhere and threw blocks to their faces to protect me!" Marx smiled, "Not only was that awesome; you also didn't have to do it. You didn't even know me, and you still let me stay in your house and everything!"

"What, you thought I would leave you with those psychos? Look, I don't care what you did or what those people say you did…" Grill pushed her bowl away from her and looked into Marx's eyes, "Throwing stuff at you like that was mean and stupid; I just couldn't stand there and do nothing. Not to mention that there aren't a lot of kids around and nothing interesting ever happens around these parts, so you coming here was sort of a….relief." She smirked playfully at him; "Plus, if you really tried to conquer Popstar, you must've done something seriously hardcore for them to be so scared of you."

"Hey, you're right! Now I wish I could remember that." The purple jester dunked his head into the bowl again and slurped what was left of his ice cream. Licking the remains off his face, his eyes widened in sudden realization and he turned nervously to the onion witch, "Wait a minute; you don't think your 'aunt' will hate me too, do you?"

"Naaaah, it'll be OK," Grill grabbed both hers and Marx's bowls and headed to the kitchen, Marx trailing behind her; "She sometimes acts a little weird, but since we're friends she won't hurt you. Also, she doesn't get along with the townspeople, so if they hate you then she'll surely be on your side, even if it's just to spite them-"

"Do you really think I'm weird?"

Both children screamed, the ice cream bowls falling and breaking on the floor. Marx looked behind him, but it was too dark for him to see anything, much less anyone. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and suddenly became aware of a silhouette right in front of him. He couldn't tell who or what it was – he managed to make out a pointed hat and what were probably robes – but judging by the way Grill gasped, she knew exactly who it was; "Drawcia! You scared the _crap_ out of-"

"Inside voice, dear; I believe your brothers are still sleeping." There was the sound of something sticky quickly scraping over something, and out of nowhere candlelight blinked into existence. Once his eyes adjusted to the change of light, he saw that 'Drawcia', the holder of the candle, was a sorceress of sorts. Her body was completely covered in violet robes with flecks of different colors – orange and cyan with two strips of red and white, among others – held together by two huge golden buttons connected through a chain. She wore shoulder armor and her face was hidden by a pink scarf, light blue hair and a huge, violet, curled hat; although he could still see a bright, amber eye and just a bit of purple skin underneath. The candle, as well as a big, thick paintbrush and a canvas, floated beside her. Her entire figure also had a strange…_texture, _but he couldn't tell what it was.

Drawcia herself, however, didn't seem to notice him as she kept talking to Grill, "What I would like to know now, young lady, is what are you doing up so early in the morning. And eating on top of it all! Honestly Grill, that is not good for a growing child, and call me crazy but I swear I heard you talk to someone-" She finally noticed Marx standing in front of her, and her only eye grew wide. _"Oh."_

"Aunt Drawcia, I can explain;" Grill brushed away the broken bowl pieces with her foot and stepped beside Marx, "The people at the market were chasing him down and throwing food at him, and it turns out he has amnesia or something, and he didn't have a place to stay so I told him he could stay here but you were painting in the basement so I didn't tell you and-" She stopped her ramblings, "Uhhh, are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

The sorceress was completely ignoring Grill and continued to stare intensely at Marx, who began to flinch under her gaze. There was something about Drawcia that made him restless, and it was not just the way she was looking at him right now. Something inside him shifted, and for a second he thought he would throw up; but he didn't and he and Drawcia kept staring at each other, still as statues and waiting for the other to give in.

"DRAWCIA!"

The sorceress snapped out of her daze and turned to the witch again, "Grill, what did I just tell you? Inside voice!" She turned to Marx once more, but her gaze wasn't as intense as before, "I wish you had told me about Marx staying in our house before. You know I'm not fond of surprises of this kind."

"Yeah, I know that. But the last time I interrupted your alone time in the basement because Pepper had set the curtains on fire, you almost bit my head off – Wait a minute," She narrowed her eyes at her 'aunt', "How did you know that's his name?"

"How could I not know? Everyone in Popstar has heard about the jester who tried to become king." Grill frowned, and Drawcia chuckled, "Well, except for you, dear. But that's because you weren't even in Popstar when it happened." Her eyes focused on the broken bowls that Grill had tried to push away, "Were you two eating ice cream?"

"Well, uhhhh…" Grill's face reddened, making the stripes under her eyes almost invisible, "….yeah."

Drawcia looked at a grandfather clock set up on the wall to her left, "At 4:31 in the morning?"

"Yeah…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"I hope you left some vanilla for me."

/

"So let me get this straight," Drawcia spoke while she absentmindedly stirred her ice cream with a spoon – how did she manage to do that without hands, Marx had no idea - her sight focused on Marx on the other side of the table. Grill was behind him, cleaning the broken pieces of porcelain with her broom and grumbling to herself, "You woke up in Cookie Country, without any memory of what happened to you or of whom you are, other than your name."

Marx fidgeted in his seat and tried his best to keep eye contact with the elder sorceress, "Yeah; that was almost a week ago…"

"…And that's it?"

"Well…" Marx broke the eye contact and looked nervously at the table, "I spent around two days walking towards Yogurt Yard, and some memories came back to me during that time. Just a few names and places; nothing much." Grill was his friend, and Drawcia seemed…decent, but he wasn't ready to tell either of them about his stay in Dark Star, his dreams/nightmares about his mother or even Galacta Knight. "Then I arrived at the market and…well, Grill already told you what happened next."

Drawcia said nothing for a while, simply staring into the distance. Marx's heart began to beat faster, almost expecting for the sorceress to burst and call him a liar and then force the truth out of him, but instead her only eye narrowed in disgust and growled, "The townspeople are nothing but hypocrites; just like almost everyone else in Dreamland. They talk about peace, but they aren't afraid to use violence in order to deal with something that simply doesn't _please_ them…" The spoon floating before her began to bend, "Fools…all of them!"

"Calm down, Aunt Drawcia. You're ruining a perfectly good spoon." Grill disposed of the last shards and sat next to Marx, suddenly regarding Drawcia with excitement, "You said you knew all about Marx trying to conquer Popstar! C'mon, you gotta tell us all about it!"

"Yeah, _I_ wanna know!" Marx bounced on his chair, the pompons on his hat falling comically on his face, "What did I do that got everyone so nervous? Did I blow something up? Did I eat somebody?"

Drawcia chuckled at the younger ones' enthusiasm and put the bent spoon away, "You didn't do anything of the sort, Marx. But you did some quite clever tricks. You got the sun and moon to fight, and you tricked Kirby into summoning the Great Comet NOVA for you."

"NOVA…" Gold-colored metal, the sound of gears turning and dull blue eyes flashed in Marx's mind, but it all vanished in an instant, "What's the Great Comet NOVA?"

"Oh! I've heard about it! It's said that if you collect enough power from the stars, you can ask NOVA to grant you a wish!" Grill stared at Marx in awe, "And you really tricked Kirby into summoning NOVA? Neat!"

Pieces of said memory began to fall into place inside Marx's mind: Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine fighting each other in the sky; a pink puffball with red feet flying into space atop a big yellow star; a ring of multicolored stars merging into a giant, cat-like machine with pieces of machinery sticking out of it…

The exquisite rush of power that filled every fiber of his body as his wish to rule Popstar was granted.

"I remember now." Marx's lip turned into a sneer, "Kirby collected all those stars to summon NOVA, but I pushed him away at the last second." He began to chuckle to himself, his grin becoming bigger and crueler, "The idiot never even saw it coming! HA!"

_It worked! It all went according to plan!_

Marx suddenly stopped laughing. There was something about those words – or maybe more about the distorted voice that spoke them inside his head – that chilled him to the bone. The memory of him gloating over an unconscious Kirby in space was replaced by the images of a monochrome Simirror with no eyes and a grinning, pale-eyed shadow, but he blinked and they were gone.

"Marx? You OK?" He noticed a gloved hand wave in front of him, and turned around to see a worried Grill beside him. Her worry, however, turned into annoyance the moment he looked back at her, "Sheesh, don't you ever scare me like that again! You were laughing like mad one second and the next you suddenly stop and begin staring into space. I mean, honestly – "

"Oh shut _up_, Grill," Marx muttered, which earned him a broom to the face and a fight with the onion witch. Both children were too caught up in their discussion to notice Drawcia gripping the edges of her side of the table so hard she was beginning to dent it. Her eye was half-closed as a sign of strain, fixated on the young jester before her. Unable to hold herself in check any longer, her whole figure began to shake and distort; the purple skin underneath began to drip and turn pink, a faint amber light coming to life on her chest. Her amber eyes – the left one now visible – began to glow eerily, as tendrils of pink goo tore out from her body and crept towards the unsuspecting children –

_THWOMP THWOMP THWOMP_

All three of them jumped and turned to the sound of heavy blows against the door. Such was Drawcia's surprise that her form quickly returned to normal, and while trying to calm her nerves she rose from her seat and headed for the entrance. Marx watched her go, noticing how tense she looked, and cringed when she stared back at him through the corner of her eye the same way she had done when she first looked at him.

_THWOMP THWOMP THWOMP_

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Who would come here at this time, anywa-" She hastily opened the door and froze. Grill and Marx peeked from behind her, and their breath stuck to their throats at what they saw.

The whole population of Yogurt Yard and probably even more than that was currently standing by the door. Some held sticks, rocks and other things to hit with, and they all looked incredibly angry; it soon became something more akin to fear once they saw it was Drawcia at the door, though. Standing right in between the door and the angry mob was an old yet burly dark red Bugzzy, who was the only one staring back at Drawcia without any hint of emotion. Next to him stood a cyan Bonkers with his hammer strapped to his back and holding carefully what seemed to be the Bugzzy's scimitars.

"Drawcia." The insect Dreamlander deadpanned.

"Celus, this is…quite a surprise," Drawcia said in a sickly sweet voice, taking a good look at the mob around her mansion, "Care to tell me why is the entire town surrounding my home so early in the morning and looking so hostile?"

"Don't play dumb, witch!" The Bonkers beside Celus dropped the scimitars and pointed an accusatory finger right at Marx, "There are rumors coming from Castle Dedede saying that Kirby's gone missing, and the only reasonable explanation is that _he_ did something to him!"

The mob shouted in agreement and began to push forward, trying to come closer to the door. Marx, initially shocked and confused by the whole affair, soon became annoyed at the angry Dreamlanders, "Hey, wait a minute! I haven't done anything; go blame someone else and leave me alone!" He turned to the cyan Bonkers, "And stop pointing me with your stupid, fat finger unless you wanna lose it," he snarled.

The Bonkers bellowed in indignation and reached out behind him for his hammer, but Celus the Bugzzy stopped with a glare. Turning to Drawcia again, he coolly replied, "According to what is being said at the Castle, he was officially declared missing about a week ago…" His eyes narrowed, "Just around the same time your purple friend here appeared."

"You're insane! Kirby's all the way in Ripple Star; Marx had nothing to do with it!" Grill stepped forward, crossing her arms at Celus, "And isn't Kirby the greatest hero in the Gamble Galaxy? How did he get captured, anyways?"

"How the hell should I know?" Celus snarled and grabbed one of his scimitars, pointing it right between Marx's eyes, "But even if he didn't do it, he's bound to know something!" He pointed it towards Grill's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood, "Any of you has to know something! Everyone knows how much you hated the guy, you bunch of stinking-"

"How _dare_ you!" the scimitar was knocked away from Grill's face, and Celus found himself face to face with a furious Drawcia and her now glowing paintbrush, "It doesn't matter if they did you wrong; they're still children! They know nothing and neither do I, so if you wouldn't mind leaving my property…"

"Celus, maybe this is going too far!" A female Waddle Dee stepped forward while gripping her parasol tightly, "We were supposed to get the boy and send him over to King Dedede; he's the one who should be able to deal with all of this!"

But if anything, the name 'Dedede' made the red Bugzzy even madder, "Right, because he has done such a _fine_ job as king so far, hasn't he?" The Waddle Dee lowered her head and stepped back into the crows, and Celus turned back to Drawcia, "Now, you listen to me, you ha – AAAAAAAAGH!"

Everyone gasped as Celus was lifted into the air, clawing at his neck as if an invisible hand was crushing his neck. What was most terrifying, however, was Drawcia's expression as she glared at the insect. Her hair was waving out like a deadly halo around her body, and her eye had a hellish glow in it. "No, _you_ listen to me, Celus," she spoke in a dark and dangerous voice, and Marx saw Grill cringe in fear beside him, "You barge into my house, you threaten my guest and then my apprentice, and finally you insult me. Now tell me…" Insane glee sparkled in her eye as the hold on Celus's neck got tighter, "A perfectly good reason why I SHOULDN'T SNAP YOUR HEAD RIGHT OFF THE REST OF YOUR BODY RIGHT NOW!"

Hell broke loose among the mob, and all the Dreamlanders surrounding Drawcia's mansion fled for their lives, leaving only Celus's Bonkers friend behind. The blue ape held his hammer in what was supposed to be a threatening stance, but the obvious fear on his face betrayed him, "L-let go of him, you maniac! I w-won't warn you again!"

As a response, Drawcia let out a shrill sound between a scream and a cackle and used her powers to throw Celus towards his lackey before he could even react. Both heavyweights collided with a painful crack and rolled all the way back to the town while screaming.

And during all this, Marx couldn't turn his gaze away from the sorceress. He was afraid of the now psychotic Drawcia, of course, but it wasn't fear what bothered him; there was an odd, crushing feeling in his chest that was tearing his chest apart, and he almost threw up then and there. But then he saw Drawcia slowly calm down, and the pain vanished with her rage.

"Lousy bunch of hypocrites; they just have no manners at all!" Her eyes fell on Grill and filled with worry instantly, "Oh Grill, dear! You're bleeding! I better go look for some bandages and cotton…My, you're so pale; that brute Celus must have scared you senseless!"

"R-right…C-Celus…" Grill stammered as Drawcia dragged her back into the mansion, having no strength of her own after watching her 'aunt' flip out like that. Marx watched both females disappear into the house, and then turned back his gaze into the town ahead, watching as the sun slowly rose above the houses.

Kirby was missing and no one had _any _idea where he was. With some of his memories on the whole NOVA affair back, he would've been jumping with glee; but somehow being blamed for it when he didn't do it dampened his mood. And there was something telling him that, even with the bubblegum-pink hero gone, things were just beginning to get worse for him.

"…..Well, this _sucks."_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Congratulations to all of you who guessed that Drawcia was the mysterious aunt! *coughPlayer-5cough* Making her flip out like that were tons of fun.

Fun Fact: "Celus" is similar to the Spanish word "celos" (jealousy). It doesn't have much sense here, but in a side story I'm planning, it will, I promise.

Sorry for the rushed ending; I was planning on going to bed early today (PFFFFFFFF) and I was sick of postponing this chapter, not to mention I made the chapter longer than the previous one AGAIN….so yeah.


End file.
